SE censorship

Also known as "troll control 2010" - see alanheart's thread of earlier today.

lo888- but what if some anonymous SE staffer is the one deciding which "troll" to control? Their standards may be very different than yours or mine. Who knows, they may see some post of yours and decide unilaterally that it is objectionable.

First amendment rights?

but hfs is obviously ridiculous. this seems like a reasonable compromise.

But what if some SE staffer with delicate sensiblities decides that anyone using curse words on this board should be censored (using some sort of filter device)

How many posters would then be put on automatic ignore?

Then again, could lead to very interesting new curse-word coinage

Also, just saw the "tell something about you" thread - seems from a comment as if SE has decided to censor that thread, not just a poster. Someone is very sensitive over at SE

Should we worry?

I recall not too long ago a SE staffer was mocking aboutready for some alleged grammar infelicity, and it made the SE staffer look really really a bit ham-handed.
I agree with murray888 ......
And also I'm paranoid and so I fear being black-listed .......

lets put this in perspective. this is a forum sponsored by a private company. presumably they are making this forum available as a way to increase traffic and repeat hits. they have no obligation to anyone here ; their responsibility is to themselves to make this forum as entertaining and informative as possible. to the extent that they succeed, they win. if anyone doesn't like their approach, we are all obviously free to express ourselves and leave or leave as we see fit.

not leave.

It is a ridiculous debate. SE has to make a business decision about whether jerkoffs like hfs should be allowed to pollute the threads to such an extent that other posters leave or find it less valuable. This board is a product SE offers and they should be focused on providing the best product to its customers. It is actually long overdue.

Murray888 - I was not opining on this one way or another but merely pointing out that there is another thread on the subject. In any event, I am used to being thought of as a troll on occasion!

What I find so fascinating is that people attribute so much more value to the SE discussions than to the actual data on the site. While I certainly read more than my share and participate from time to time, I use SE much more often as an all inclusive NY real estatesearch engine.

what makes you think that people (other than frequent posters who are a pretty small group) value the discussions over the data?

"lets put this in perspective. this is a forum sponsored by a private company. presumably they are making this forum available as a way to increase traffic and repeat hits. they have no obligation to anyone here ; their responsibility is to themselves to make this forum as entertaining and informative as possible. to the extent that they succeed, they win. if anyone doesn't like their approach, we are all obviously free to express ourselves and leave or leave as we see fit"

Nail....Head.

Columbia - I meant the people partaking in the discussions. I assume that most other people use this site for the data!

In terms of how SE identifies trolls, it could be that they base it on how many "report abuse(s)" they receive about a particular poster. I must admit that although I am not partial to censorship, I find that the cursing and personal attacks take a lot away from some very valuable contributions.

I don't like it. I'm a HUGE fan of StreetEasy & I've always found the staff to be pleasant & responsive but I've just found that a poster is being ignored & I've not hit the ignore button on this one. I'm ignoring a few but not this one & I DON'T LIKE IT.

I made a post the other day using a colorful 2 word "statement" & it was deleted. I've been laughing ever since, "I didn't even use the k!"; ARE our friends at SE getting a little heavy handed?

drdrd - it would appear that SE is now censoring CC. Once SE starts to censor, there may be no stopping them.

I would think it's better if each individual decides who to put on "ignore" than have the decision made for them.

they definitely have a glitch. if you hit stop ignoring this person it doesn't work. they stay on ignore. wtf?

AR - just hit the "click here to reveal it" - that works

yeah, you can reveal it. but you can't stop ignoring someone. usually if someone is on ignore you don't see any threads that person starts. that's generally a good thing, but if you have no choice, that's another thing.

i'm of two minds on this issue. on the one hand, having someone follow you around calling you a whore and misrepresenting just about everything you say and stand for can have its amusing moments, this does seem to go beyond mere waggish behavior. but it must be extremely irritating for the people at SE to feel they need to monitor the site continuously (on New Year's no less).

poorish, it wasn't SE making fun of my grammatical error. it was hfs.

I think what aboutready is saying is the stalker element of the behavior was the worst part of it.
I think that's what was most bothersome to me as well.

Bravo, Streeteasy! This month makes two years that I've been using this site (as a paying customer). Right after the article on Streeteasy that appeared in the NYT, the quality of the talk board postings began to deteriorate markedly, so much so that had pretty much decided to cancel my monthly insider membership. I am glad to see Streeteasy exercising editorial control (the First Amendment has nothing to do with it) consistent with the site's focus on NYC, New Jersey and Hamptons real estate issues. I appreciate the new default position-- if I want to read the postings of ignored commenters, all I have to do is clich my mouse once.

truth - but sometimes CC comes off as a bit of a stalker as well. Perhaps not continuously, but fairly frequently.

is there an announcement from SE on the new policy? perhaps something outlining their decision making process in determining who/which threads to censor, what language is 'unsuitable', so that everyone plays by the same ground rules.

You know, I really wish columbiacounty would post on this thread.

I'm really curious about columbiacounty's point of view. No doubt he'd have an opinion.

[Ignoring comment by columbiacounty. Click here to reveal it.]

murray888, do you live in Murray Hill, where hfscomm1 lives?

Printer - it's probably in the small print somewhere. I am assuming that at some point when we signed up we were told that they reserve the right to edit our posts.

AH - I'm disappointed in you - just because I oppose censorship you leap to the conclusion that I am hfs?
LOL - Thought you were more intelligent than that

4.You must not abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other StreetEasy users.

basic terms. no mention of profanity, or self-defense.

ph41

I understand, and to be truthful, I have not monitored or noticed enough of CC's posts to agree or disagree. I do know that when hfscomm posted, it was chronic and seemingly malicious.Like stalking was the main agenda each and every post.
We all have emotions, we all have people that we find obnoxious or piss us off. And I have no problem with hfscomm or anyone beefing with someone or me on anything. But it was the ONLY posting he was doing with great frequency. Enough that I came on here much less,and I'm sure many others on here came on less.
Aboutready was a workhorse,particularly on comp threads and she definitely stopped posting because of the stalking.
And comp work enhances this site, it's a main reason for people to be on this site.

So if hfscomm wants to berate people but is also posting useful articles or opinions sarcastic or not AS WELL I wouldn't say beep.

aboutready
12 minutes ago
ignore this person
report abuse

...
i'm of two minds on this issue. on the one hand, having someone follow you around calling you a whore and misrepresenting just about everything you say and stand for can have its amusing moments,

...
let me get this straight,
1) you clearly and obviously lie about something (starting with the tax abatement treatment) and then you claim others are misrepresenting you?
2) a friend of your starts a birthday thread dedicated solely to you and which quickly discusses what type of sex you are having, and it's the person who is calling you a whore that is the issue?
3) you discuss your daughter's sexual and medical history online and you worry about privacy?
4) you discuss stories about you and a toilet plunger 20 years ago, and other recent things about your toilets, and you wonder ...

exhibit A.

truthskr10
1 minute ago
ignore this person
report abuse
...
Aboutready was a workhorse,particularly on comp threads and she definitely stopped posting because of the stalking.

She is out of the workforce, so I can only agree with you on the horse part.

But also, I have never ONCE posted on a comp thread.

I'll take your word for it but that wasn't the point. You made this a hostile place to even sign on.

aboutready
8 minutes ago
ignore this person
report abuse

4.You must not abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other StreetEasy users.

but clearly this is quite arbitrarily being implemented, as I can think of one particular poster who has threatened physical violence on many commenters, myself included, and i don't see his comments being censored. I'm just asking for clarity and consistency. if you have that, everyone can work within those rules if they choose, or face the consequences.

you mean Rhino?

i think everyone knows who i'm talking about, yes.

This thread is helpful in a Brandeis/sunshine way.

My absolute promise is to be gone once others who threaten, stalk, berate, and lie, like columbiacounty, w67thstreet, aboutready, Rhino, etc. are gone.

printer, i don't disagree in theory. i think the gray areas are difficult to define. i don't promote censorship, generally, but i can see how it is in SE's best interests to protect its product. this seems to me to be a very definite effort to destroy the discussion board. and it's very clever, on a childish level. an attempt to push SE into a corner, creating a policy which may very well turn this forum into a sanitized, but relatively devoid of flavor or personality, board. that would be unfortunate. and if so, just as hsf believes, I and many others would move on.

so it's a win-win for hsf. stick around and alienate huge numbers of new and old alike. or get the policy changed and destroy the character (albeit flawed, i'll concur) of the site. is something in between possible? i certainly hope so.

In other words, come posters really intimidate others on this board - so much so that you won't even name the poster? And the only one who names the poster is the one who is being censored? LOL

However, doesn't mean SE should be censoring posters - just hit the ignore button.

I would take that as an admission of guilt. If a poster's sole goal is to drive others from the board, then SE has a responsibility to block them.

Printer: care to show the thread threatening violence?

WTF ! ? ! StreetEasy has cc on ignore & hfs not - just the opposite of what I had for myself. ME NO LIKEE.

..."destroy the character (albeit flawed, i'll concur) of the site."

aboutready, you are such the conciliator.

Should I say "Goodbye" now? I'll soon be on ignore. xoxoxox drdrd

lets remember where we were before hfs etc appeared. it is an interesting problem for SE; clearly, their current solution has already been circumvented. i can't see how SE can spend hours and hours deleting posts from hfs, etc.

drdrd, hsf relieved itself of one of the m's in its name, thereby at least temporarily avoided the automatic ignore function.

murray, let's just suppose that SE has received very negative feedback, perhaps is even seeing its visits per day decline. it should just sit back and let a situation that is hindering its business continue? read the terms of use. it can get rid of anyone for any reason.

malthus
4 minutes ago
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report abuse
I would take that as an admission of guilt. If a poster's sole goal is to drive others from the board, then SE has a responsibility to block them.

well malthus, this has been my stated goal for a long time. I'm the only one who isn't trying to cover up my intentions.

aboutready is now pretending to be streeteasy's legal adviser and pretending like she isn't responsible for creating an inhospitable environment especially for new posters. why is she allowed to get away with it?

columbiacounty, I think it would be as easy as banning an IP address. There are ways around that of course, but easier than going through countless posts.

Frankly, I think people spend way too much time worrying about hfs, which only fuels his "work." If ignored, he would undoubtedly grow tired of this. It took awhile, but rufus eventually disappeared (though I'll contend it took that long precisely because people kept responding to him or referring to him). The vast majority of people come here to discuss real estate - if we get away from that too much, it puts the integrity of the board at risk. The best way to avoid that is to continue doing what we were doing - discussing real estate. The rest will take care of itself.

columbiacounty, since you are on automatic ignore, allow me to repost on your behalf, and allow me two liberties:

columbiacounty
5 minutes ago
stop ignoring this person
report abuse

lets remember where we were before hfs etc appeared, it was just me and my friends who controlled the discussion. it is an interesting problem for SE; clearly, their current solution has already been circumvented. i can't see how SE can spend hours and hours deleting posts from hfs, columbiacounty, etc.

bjw2103
1 minute ago
ignore this person
report abuse

columbiacounty, I think it would be as easy as banning an IP address. There are ways around that of course, but easier than going through countless posts.

I'm on an airplane right now, not sure if I'll be on this same plane tomorrow.

hfs, if you can afford a new flight every day (with different planes - I assume you'd get the same IP on the same aircraft), then more power to you.

I fly commercial

this is the stupidest thing ever. this was never an issue before hfs. i'm sorry, it just wasn't. i am sure that so many people have complained about it since, that SE had to finally do something. why they don't just ban this poster is completely beyond me. WHY TF NOT? the censorship is very bad, plus it is punishing people that don't deserve it. the best thing about this site was being able to swear and say whatever you want. it was totally self-governing - f*ckin awesome. and now... well this is a sad day for SE to say the least.

"so much so that you won't even name the poster? And the only one who names the poster is the one who is being censored? LOL"

YOU SAID IT... the bullying has gone all the way to the top - to SE itself...

I suggest that the SE administrators take a random read back through the postings of the two posters it has blocked. I think you will pretty quickly conclude that CC has been a long-time contributor here who has actually offered meaningful advice and analysis while hfs has stated his/her purpose clearly, and it doesn't involve anything constructive.

I don't see any of youz... where are you guyz?

Bring back CC

Yes, cc is fine, I think, since she/he got the medication correct. How is it that glamma got to even use the K? Ha ha - censorship, indeed.

lol i used an asterisk!

I think SE is seeing the results of what eventually happens to just about every unmoderated forum over time if it grows in size. I am in charge of the moderation of a forum which is considerably larger than this one (about 80,000 members, going on a million posts, around for about a decade) and I think that SE will have to come up with some more long term solutions than this one (which I actually suggested not all that long ago; I don't know if they took my advice or came upon it independently). But it is only 1 tool in the moderation of a forum. I also think they would be best served by changing over to a widely used and supported forum software rather than what looks like a fairly bare bones, self custom coded database. It wold also get users something like a much more usable search function.

Glamma speaks true .......

And I appreciate the intelligence and prose styles of cc and w67th ..... tho I did get a tad paranoid at what point that cc thought I was hsf. But overall, we have such a superb thing here ---- SE is heavenly.

I mean I mistakenly thought cc might think I was hsf (but that was just my paranoia).
We are all very lucky to have NYC real estate to consider, bad steam heat and all ------ and it is glorious to be able to connect on this forum.

"I mean I mistakenly thought cc might think I was hsf (but that was just my paranoia"

justified paranoia...is not paranoia

"tho I did get a tad paranoid at what point that cc thought I was hsf" I wouldn't worry about it too much. cc thinks everyone is hfs, so you're in good company.

not true...

Postings which have a the primary intent of abusing another poster should just not be allowed.

cc, you're back! Where do you keep your liquor around here, AR?

malthus, this thread is one recent example,
http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/17311-who-was-asking-for-a-catalyst-for-the-next-leg-down-how-about-this-75-80-mortgage-rates?page=1

where he expressed both his desire to 'smack me in the face', as well as calling my children 'rats'. rhino is a bully, but worse, because he does it from the anonymity of a message board.

normal, well balanced people don't resort to debased cursing and violent threats when someone disagrees with them on the topic of whether nyc residential real estate purchase prices have hit bottom.

wait a second. i have never used those words. quite the witchhunt now.

cc, was talking about rhino, not you

aboutready?

did streeteasy censor mimi's thread on not censoring columbiacounty?

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/17677-deleted-mimis-thread-bring-back-columbia

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:sFNf9ru6iBUJ:streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/17587-bring-back-columbia

columbiacounty is back! Just saw him post 15 minutes ago!!

can't read the little grey print, but somebody seems a bit agitated these days.

im getting confused about who is who...

Pretty simple, I am anyone with the suffix comm1, and sometimes just comm, and I also do spoof names on the offensive posters like aboutready or columbiacounty or w67thstreet, so you can bet if you see abouttoilet, that's me too.

columbiacounty
about 7 weeks ago
ignore this person
report abuse wait a second. i have never used those words. quite the witchhunt now.

columbiacounty and Hugh_G seem to be confirmed

aboutready is just the Welfare Toilet Queen an no one else.

Some still suspect I'm rufus, and it doesn't really matter to me, but no I'm not.