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0 pointslivre5y ago0 comments

> Picture Reddit, but with the ability to anonymously share ideas with other people in your social circles.

> something new, that lets you talk with people you actually know.

Anonymous Facebook? The problem with that is this:

> so places like Twitter end up filled with unreasonable narcissists

That's also a problem among the people you know and have added on Facebook, many of them are unreasonable narcissists and they don't mind showing that with their name and picture on the web. I feel like giving them anonymity can only make things worse. Just think of your racist uncle, your Nazi grandparent, your homophobic friend, but now you won't know which of them is posting the bullshit.

You have chosen a very difficult problem to solve, I can only tell you why I think your current idea won't work and wish you luck.

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chiefmcloud5y ago· 4 in thread

You’re not wrong when you say it’s hard. I have been struggling with the problems you’ve brought up for awhile.

Re:anonymous fb, I’m not going for exactly that but let’s imagine I was and consider the problem for a second of the homophobic/racist/etc Uncle. The simplest solution for not getting that content is to remove them from your list of contacts. But I also have a theory that this is where there could be a global improvement in communication. I believe some people are trolls not because they’re anonymous but because they’re not. Their identity is basically a troll - think the guy who wore a MAGA hat to a recent BLM protest. If that person was allowed to, maybe they would want to change their opinion.

livreOP5y ago

> The simplest solution for not getting that content is to remove them from your list of contacts.

People already have the chance of doing that on Facebook (not anonymous) or Twitter (relatively anonymous), there's a reason they don't do it. It's probably something to do with human nature or psychology, this is likely an area that requires more study (or for which I don't have enough knowledge about).

> I believe some people are trolls not because they’re anonymous but because they’re not. Their identity is basically a troll

I agree with this, but considering your example:

> think the guy who wore a MAGA hat to a recent BLM protest.

I wouldn't call those people "trolls," they are closer to the definition of a antagonist. They are against something beyond reason and logic because it's part of their identity. That's why they love their symbols (the swastika, the Confederate flag), symbols don't require logic or thinking, they only require faith. This brings us to the next issue:

> If that person was allowed to, maybe they would want to change their opinion.

They are unable to listen to opinions or try to change theirs. There's a quote that applies to them:

> You cannot reason people out of something they were not reasoned into.

Online discussions generally don't work because they are not about two people sharing opinions, they are usually about people trying to impose their opposing faiths.

cerved5y ago

how will you remove the racist uncle if his content is anonymous?

chiefmcloud5y ago

That’s the interesting tech challenge. Keeping things anonymous, even if a db dump leaks, but still allowing moderation and users being able to block specific people. I’m still digging into the solution but believe I have a simple solution. The key is that not everything is anonymous, you know who you’re associated with. You just don’t know the association between a specific user and the content they authored.

webmaven5y ago

A "show less of this" button should work even if you don't know who it is being applied to.

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