News Aggregator Fark Adds Misogyny Ban 748
An anonymous reader writes The news aggregator Fark is ancient in dot com terms. Users submit news links to the privately run site and tear it — and each other — to pieces in the discussion threads. (Sound familiar?) While the site isn't as popular as during the early 2000s, the privately run discussion forum has continued and has its champions. site operator Drew Curtis announced today that Gifs, references, jokes and comments involving sexism will be deleted. "Adam Savage once described to me the problem this way: if the Internet was a dude, we'd all agree that dude has a serious problem with women. We've actually been tightening up moderation style along these lines for awhile now, but as of today, the FArQ will be updated with new rules reminding you all that we don't want to be the He Man Woman Hater's Club. This represents enough of a departure from pretty much how every other large internet community operates that I figure an announcement is necessary."
Given how bare-knuckled Fark can be, is it time? Overdue?
Given how bare-knuckled Fark can be, is it time? Overdue?
Not moderated on their pay site? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm just wondering if it will be moderated on 'totalfark'. Totalfark is the paid side of Fark. I could see this as just revenue generation.
Fark already defies internet culture. (Score:5, Interesting)
A lot of things run counter to typical internet culture on Fark. You can't even curse on that site. It has moved away from porn. People actually pay for membership. They do IRL meetups almost every week somewhere in the world. They've been pretty successful at banning memes in the past.
I find it more witty than harsh.
Re:It's always amazed me... (Score:4, Interesting)
Policies like this new one are why it's not as popular. They started down the path of pleasing their corporate overlords (ie, advertisers) a long time ago and started removing all the boobies pics and anything that might appear NSFW could get you banned because *gasp* heaven forbid they lose the ad-revenue of all those 9-5 desk-imprisoned FARKers click click clicking away all day on the company dime.
FARK has sucked for years. This is par for the course for Drew "FYIGM" Curtis and the constant nagging "join totalfark" ads and even the "please disable adblock" nag on their site.
What constitutes sexism? (Score:4, Interesting)
What I want to know is exactly what they think constitutes sexism, and whether it goes both ways. Most people think of it only as misogyny, but there is plenty of hatred the other way around as well. For instance, a few weeks ago, Vice had a rather intriguing article about a person calling themselves "The Femitheist", a 22-year-old college student infamous for posting a lengthy rant in which she claimed that the world would be better off if men were treated like animals - forcibly castrated in a public "ceremony" and used as breeding and/or labor slaves, with the penalty for refusing to accept that being an immediate execution. The scary part about this is that as bugfuck insane as it is (she claimed in the Vice article that it was a "joke" after people got understandably pissed at her) there were feminists and tumblr SJW cheering her on.
Now, I'm not a feminist or a tumblrite, but I'm sure if I posted the same thing word for word (except with females as the sub-human class) I would have an army of angry feminists calling for my head - and I'm sure if I told them it was "a joke", they'd only get more riled up. I'm certainly not saying this "Femitheist" person shouldn't have the right to say what they want, but it's ridiculous that a double-standard exists.
Re:Fark already defies internet culture. (Score:5, Interesting)
"Reddit works just fine."
Not even. For such a supposedly 'open' community, a ton of the bigger subreddits have fucked rules.
Example, tried to post two days ago in r/aquariums regarding a problem I have. I have a new account since Reddits PW system is irreparably broken. Because I have a new account, I can't post in the aquariums section (and don't want to derail another thread with my issue) and AutoModerator removed my submission. Why? It thinks a self-post with no link, no brand names, nothing like that being mentioned, is SPAM.
Well, here I am two days later, half my tank is dead.
At least 4chan's /an/ managed to help keep half my tank alive.
Fuck Reddit.
Re:It's always amazed me... (Score:0, Interesting)
Nah, Fark has become more "average not-news" rather than "huehue tits"
The same can be said of Slashdot, SomethingAwful,CollegeHumor, 4chan or reddit. When a policy changes on one site to become "nicer", the asshats just move to another, and if they can't find it, they make one. Livejournal,DeviantArt, and 4chan have all shown that when they get boot for whatever reason, they will just make a new site and start over.
4Chan is a cesspool that you have to be out of your goddamned mind to post to it, let alone read it. Reddit is not that different, albeit Reddit "looks nicer on digital paper" as it's not flooded with pictures of dicks. Still flooded with MRA bullshit everywhere.
Slashdot is typically known as a Linux/Open-source Zealot harboring place where the only news you can rely on is news not-about-linux/not-about-android. So the cool stuff like robots and NASA, Slashdot has you. Anytime GPL,GNU, Stallman, Torvolds, Android or Linux in general gets mentioned, may as well not even read the article or the comments, because the ensuing political bullshit will make you want to never visit the site again.
Misogyny on slashdot? Nah, haven't seen much of that. Part of the reason 4chan, fark are MRA harborers is because of the image-inlining. Reddit has entire forum dedicated to the trilby-wearing MRA assholes and their partners in the gaming reddit.
All it takes is to mention Feminist Frequency (Anita Sarkeesian) and every goddamned MRA troll will be spamming up a storm.
Re:What constitutes sexism? (Score:4, Interesting)
IMHO, a lot of academic radical feminism borders on misandry.
There are arguments to be made about gender imbalances in every society, but radical feminism often takes it to such an absurd level that I question when it stopped being a legitimate cultural critique and started being the expression of individual emotional imbalance.
what about misandry? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sigh (Score:5, Interesting)
It's a very US American thing to pretend that the only valid position against homophobia is the dogma that sexual orientation is 100% genetically determined. Instead of "Fuck your hateful god and his moral law" they say "I'm sorry if my life is an abomination, I can't help it, I was born this way". I think this is a reactionary biologistic position. It devalues my conscious choice, in my case in my early teens, to become gay. I'd rather tell young people that what you are isn't set in stone and that what makes life worth living is to experiment and invent yourself, sexually and otherwise.
Re:Much ado about nothing (Score:3, Interesting)
Look around you and what do you see? (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't get why people want to lock themselve in an echo chamber. That seems silly to me.
--- and a bizarre question to be asking here.
You can see the posters here circling the wagons when topics like gender equality come up on Slashdot.
Re:Sigh (Score:5, Interesting)
AmiMojo counts sentiments like yours as proof of hate. If you disagree (or ask for meaningful evidence) that the problem is all around us and unbearable then you obviously support misogyny.
When you ask for meaningful evidence of misogyny on slashdot (or wider society) you only underscore your blindness to the problem. You shouldn't need anyone to point out examples, because an intelligent person would be able to find a discussion and skim it. When you learn to use the internets, you'll spend a lot less time whining.
Every woman I know well enough to tell me whether she has been raped has been raped. (I don't ask, obviously.) Either you live in a magical fairy world where women are treated better than they are in Northern California, or women don't trust you well enough for you to know how serious the problem is. And let me tell you, based on your statements, I am something less than shocked.
Re:Sigh (Score:0, Interesting)
There's violent rape and there's modern "rape" where someone sober takes advantage of someone under the influence who is beyond the legal definition of having the capacity to consent.
I am male and have been "raped" in this way by a woman. I was aroused from being passed out drunk by this happening.
She happened to be my long-term girlfriend. And yes, I can still perform in these circumstances.
So: I can speak from experience that "rape" has been watered down as a term. Violent rape? Yeah, that's fucked up... we should kill those perpetrators. Roofies on strangers? Yeah, fucked up... I'd go with castration for that. Being used by your partner for sexual gratification while one or both of you are drunk? Give me a break.
Disagree != Flamebait (Score:5, Interesting)
While surely this could have been worded differently for clarity and to lighten the offense, I don't believe its flamebait (just a bit misguided).
I disagree with the post in that it's not just liberals that want to control people's mind, it's an establishment problem that relates to people in office/power and not just liberals. Half of waking up is to notice the corruption, the other half is to start broadening your view to ensure you are getting the full picture.
When the News is manipulated to give you a specific opinion, that is mind control. For example, everyone in the US is under the belief that Iran is evil, hell bent on destroying Israel, and bent on world domination. They have a larger military than most countries in the region, yet have not invaded anyone in over 200 years. Assad from Syria is painted as a horrible dictator today, yet prior to the revolt in Libya, US media repeatedly claimed that Syria was the most progressive country in the Middle East. You won't hear about the Saudi Arabian police killing people for speaking out against the government, or putting a women in jail for driving in US media. Ignore the slave labor problems in Dubai and UAE. Those guys are our friends, so we have TV specials showing you how great they are and fire journalists that cover a story that is not favorable.
You will also hear intentionally manipulated "news" to ensure that you have a biased opinion and reaction. Zimmerman/Martin is an easy example, and on the surface the Ferguson MO is another. OWS was just a bunch of bums, they were not demanding accountability for criminal acts by executives. And when protesters are too big of a nuisance, send in agent provocateurs. I'm sure you remember that during the Oakland OWS protests which turned violent the majority of protestors arrested for violent confrontation were not from California. (Interesting that similar reports are coming from Ferguson IMHO.)
People may want to (falsely) believe that the only kind of mind control is like the Manchurian candidate, because someone shaped their reality to have that belief. Just like most people associate the word "conspiracy" with insanity and impossible. Not rational when you look at it, we all know conspiracies happen. I'm sure you remember the TV show "Survivor" which was full of people conspiring to win. Yet if I told you that a winner was in a conspiracy you may have difficulty agreeing. People will argue that they plotted or planned and manipulated, very rarely will they agree with the term conspiracy.
Shaping thought is not new, not novel, and not unique. We like to think it only happens to those other guys, but it has been happening here for generations. Further, US Media has been working at demoralizing the USA for a long time (has nothing to do with homophobia or sexism, ask for clarity if you are lost). You don't have to like it, and you can surely ignore that portion of reality, but you can't deny the facts. There is plenty of material to study if you so desire.
Last point so that I'm not writing a novel, is that there is more than one reason for the people in power to do this. If the people in power can keep us arguing with each other about our differences they get to stay in power and gain more power. The Hegelian dialectic is exactly this. Own both sides of the argument so that people line up in the center. Provide a problem so that you can implement a solution you want towards a resolution that you want. Hegel was not the first person to understand this social control method, he was just the first person we know of that wrote down the process.
Recommended viewing for the politically correct (Score:4, Interesting)
Please take a minute and 45 seconds to absorb the following (quite funny) video:
http://www.boreme.com/posting.... [boreme.com]
Re:Will they ban this ? (Score:5, Interesting)
While I understand what you are saying, I disagree in the intent of the policy. Sexism is offensive, misogyny is hatred. Being offensive isn't prohibited for if it was, the internet would cease to exist. Being outright hateful is though.
If I say "that awful parking job had to be by a woman", I'm sexist. If I say "that bitch deserves to be raped for that parking job", I'm misogynistic. It's the later trolling they don't want.