Reddit CEO modifies user comments through the database(undetected)

[Ichifails]

http://www.businessinsider.com/reddi...donald-2016-11

The move to shut down r/Pizzagate proved controversial to users of "r/The_Donald," Reddit's most popular community for supporters of Donald Trump. Those users repeatedly left comments to the effect of "f**k u/spez" and other forms of abuse, including Huffman's "u/spez" Reddit name in the post to make sure he was notified of each new message.

On Wednesday afternoon, members of "The_Donald" noticed that their posts had changed without their knowledge or consent: Instead of referencing Huffman himself, the posts now hurled the same expletives at the moderators of the "The_Donald" community.

Angry "The _Donald" members accused Reddit leadership of modifying or otherwise censoring their posts — which turned out to be correct, when Huffman posted the following comment, confessing that it was him personally who was performing the changes (with expletives taken out):

"Hey Everyone,

Yep. I messed with the “f**k u/spez ” comments, replacing "spez" with r/the_donald mods for about an hour. It’s been a long week here trying to unwind the r/pizzagate stuff. As much as we try to maintain a good relationship with you all, it does get old getting called a pedophile constantly. As the CEO, I shouldn’t play such games, and it’s all fixed now. Our community team is pretty pissed at me, so I most assuredly won’t do this again.

F**k u/spez."

See, MMO-Champion mods, that's how you push an agenda the right way.

We live in a day and age where people are getting arrested and fined for comments they make on social media/forums while the CEO and most likely admins go around editing the database to change comments of users they don't like, leaving no trace they ever did.


EDIT: The obvious things the admins want to do about this whole situation: Ban "the_donald" subreddit.

[Daerio]

I'm confused; a supposedly "open" and "free" online forum getting censored by the CEO and then getting caught doing so.

What's the moral of the story here? How is it anything other than, "censorship is bad." ?

BTW there was a trace, because he got caught and says he won't do it again because there was backlash, as if that was unexpected.

- - - Updated - - -

EDIT: The obvious things the admins want to do about this whole situation: Ban "the_donald" subreddit.

And then those people move to another forum that doesn't include opinion censorship, and reddit becomes tumbler.

[Ichifails]

I'm confused; a supposedly "open" and "free" online forum getting censored by the CEO and then getting caught doing so.

What's the moral of the story here? How is it anything other than, "censorship is bad." ?

BTW there was a trace, because he got caught and says he won't do it again because there was backlash, as if that was unexpected.

Usually when someone edits or deletes a comment on reddit, it leaves something behind that shows it was touched by a moderator/admin. Doing it through the database doesn't do that so it looks like the comments were never edited by anyone so it looks like the user posted it.


EDIT: This is not an issue with cenzorship, that's not THAT harmful(it is but still). This is literally admins/CEO putting words in the mouths of people they don't like leaving the user with no proof they did so. Shit like this can get people arrested/fined.

I'd be surprised if reddit doesn't get sued out of a couple hundred million $ because of this.

[Daerio]

Usually when someone edits or deletes a comment on reddit, it leaves something behind that shows it was touched by a moderator/admin. Doing it through the database doesn't do that so it looks like the comments were never edited by anyone so it looks like the user posted it.

But the user knows they didn't post it, and so does anyone actually following the conversation.

You have plenty of safe spaces online, you don't need to declare war on dissenting opinion.

[Graeham]

It's very scary stuff - and is an excellent example as to how power can corrupt. It wouldn't surprise me if moderators on sites outside of Reddit did similar things if they found themselves in a position where they could get away with it and/or push a specific agenda.

Combined with the simple fact that 'paid trolls' are a thing it casts doubt on the integrity of many discussion threads/sites across the internet.

[Deleted]

http://www.businessinsider.com/reddi...donald-2016-11



See, MMO-Champion mods, that's how you push an agenda the right way.

We live in a day and age where people are getting arrested and fined for comments they make on social media/forums while the CEO and most likely admins go around editing the database to change comments of users they don't like, leaving no trace they ever did.


EDIT: The obvious things the admins want to do about this whole situation: Ban "the_donald" subreddit.

There's always going to be a digital trace, it might be well hidden but it can be uncovered with the right set of tools.

[Ichifails]

LOL, as if what those trumpdweeds didn't already say stuff that could get them arrested.

How do you know it wasn't the admins that posted that in their name, the same way they posted addresses on r/pizzagate in order to shut down that sub? :^)

We have the CEO of reddit casually admitting that he does it with people that say "fuck". You have to remember that r/politics is the personal subreddit of u/spez (reddit CEO) and that's where the Correct the Record super pac spent millions to well, change online narrative.

[Daerio]

Again, I think the point is that you can't stifle opinion. You could take any measure you feel prudent; you could shut down the entire reddit website. Opinion would still be shared online. You could corner the entire social media market and place the same "safe space" rules on all of them and then you'd have twitter, reddit, tumbler, facebook and whatever other nonsense competing for the same tiny market share of mainstream opinions.

And then the "alt-right" or whatever you choose to term them as would overtake those "mainstream" markets. You know, the forums that don't include censorship. MMO certainly wouldn't fall into that category though.

You can't alter public opinion through censorship.

Also, I don't see this as a particular risk for "anonymous users" to be held legally liable for what a website CEO/admin edits their posts to say. Any sort of investigation to find that person would also lead to finding out they weren't the ones who posted it.

[Ichifails]

Also, I don't see this as a particular risk for "anonymous users" to be held legally liable for what a website CEO/admin edits their posts to say. Any sort of investigation to find that person would also lead to finding out they weren't the ones who posted it.

The issue is that in order to see this type of edit, you would need a team of lawyers, enough time and money to get access to reddit's database and I can assure reddit won't allow anyone to get that far easily. That's the beauty of this type of edit, it's not detectable without direct access to the database.

And again, this is not an issue of censorship, it's an issue with shadow editing posts of people and putting words in their mouth.

[Ichifails]

Oh paranoid alt righters gotta love them....

So if I go to jail over a comment on reddit that I don't recall posting with the CEO of reddit admitting that he edits comments through the database, I'd be paranoid to think it was tampered with?

[Shyguyy]

But the user knows they didn't post it, and so does anyone actually following the conversation.

That's asinine. Most conversations on reddit are viewed by thousands of people hours after they take place. The only people aware of manipulation would be those directly involved. By the time they realize there was a change, the damage is usually done.

[apelsinjuice]

aaaand the reddit thread with over 3k comments is already removed, that was quick.

[Daerio]

The issue is that in order to see this type of edit, you would need a team of lawyers, enough time and money to get access to reddit's database and I can assure reddit won't allow anyone to get that far easily. That's the beauty of this type of edit, it's not detectable without direct access to the database.

And again, this is not an issue of censorship, it's an issue with shadow editing posts of people and putting words in their mouth.

They aren't going to be able to locate a poster on the forum without direct access to the database. They'll need help from Reddit for that; that's what subpoenas are for. Those are the only tools needed to figure out that the anonymous person you're investigating for posting something wasn't actually the person who posted it.

That's asinine. Most conversations on reddit are viewed by thousands of people hours after they take place. The only people aware of manipulation would be those directly involved. By the time they realize there was a change, the damage is usually done.

So you're talking about the easily swayed masses who read reddit but don't actually know what they're reading?

And what about the guy sitting there wondering what just happened to his post? He's going to sit on his hands while you put words in his mouth?

We can see how well that worked out this time.

[serenka]

Redit is very big on censoring things that don't fit their narrative, this is nothing new.

Its a private site, they can ban what they want, it would just be nice if such a big and popular site was a bit more open and consistent.

[Ichifails]

Redit is very big on censoring things that don't fit their narrative, this is nothing new.

Its a private site, they can ban what they want, it would just be nice if such a big and popular site was a bit more open and consistent.

Again, this is not a censorship issue. This is a "putting words in the mouths of people I don't like" issue that has legal consequences such as going to jail/being fined. Those to aren't even close to being the same.

[Stacyrect]

Media, even MMO-C, is moderated by tyrants. They preach freedom, but deny it at the same time. Freedom isn't freedom unless it fits the sponsoring corporate moto.

[Shyguyy]

So you're talking about the easily swayed masses who read reddit but don't actually know what they're reading?

And what about the guy sitting there wondering what just happened to his post? He's going to sit on his hands while you put words in his mouth?

We can see how well that worked out this time.

This isn't an issue of misinformation. I don't see why this is so difficult for you to understand. As for editing, not everyone sits and constantly reviews their posts for edits, nor should they. I'll say it again. By the time a change is noticed, it's usually too late.

I'm all for personal responsibility and whatnot, but this is not what the issue is here. To imply it means you don't understand the situation in the slightest.

[zealo]

The irony of /r/the_donald users getting upset about censorship when their own sub bans people left and right for simple daring to disagree with them in it.

[Ryme]

Because we've all learned that demonising and belittling these people works wonders.

[Deleted]

Well social networks are made to send information to other people. It's completely normal to do everything that your desired information reach others instead of opposing ones. "Users" are just a mass that cries out "feed me" and Administrators should abuse that.

And the inevitable result will hopefully be that users step up and get serious. Aim for revolution, get yet together again in the real world and fight for what they thought tasted best. This is democracy, it's great.