Local subreddits r/nova, r/Virginia, r/VirginiaPolitics against conservatives and free speech

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:r/nova is mostly people crapping on Maryland drivers. What did you post that got you banned?

I can't find the exact post, but it was about reopening schools back during the pandemic. My argument was just that Virginia should leave schools open and give parents the choice for either in-person or virtual learning, and ban indoor dining instead. Apparently my opinion was troll-ish and got me banned (after having collected a ton of downvotes ofc).

Anonymous wrote:
Even leaving aside the private platform thing the only thing here that could possibly have implications for free speech is banning you. Otherwise, you're just complaining about other people's speech; you're free to voice your opinions, they're free to call you a Trumper. That's free speech in action.

Well the thing is that if you continuously post stuff that people don't "like" in a sub, you collect a huge downvote total and mods ban you because of negative sub contribution.
For example, in r/Virginia and r/VirginiaPolitics you will see that all posts blame Youngkin (not a single one in support of him). If you start posting there in support of him you will get banned sooner or later 100%
Also see above

Well you can aim a little lower and give City Data or Nextdoor a try.

OP seems like she would like Fairfax Underground.

[Anonymous]

I always got the impression that Reddit was a bunch of young 20 something’s in the local forums. Are you really up in arms that a bunch of 24 year olds don’t like your opinions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am active on Reddit and a moderate conservative.
I would like to participate in civil discussion in our local subreddits, but it's seems to me that those reddits are VERY unwelcome to any opinion that can be considered "conservative".
Of course I have never made any post that can be considered as "hateful" etc.
In best case you just get attacked, painted as a "Trumpist" and downvoted to oblivion.
In the worst case you are banned by mods (I got banned from r/nova because the mods thought I am a "troll")

Since Reddit is a major platform for (political) discussion, how does this relate to free speech rights?

That’s pretty much exactly the way it should be. Go inject some bleach and eat some fish tank cleaner and rid us of your loathsome existence.

Nice. Bet you have a “Be Kind” sign in your yard.

No one should tolerate MAGA trash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am active on Reddit and a moderate conservative.
I would like to participate in civil discussion in our local subreddits, but it's seems to me that those reddits are VERY unwelcome to any opinion that can be considered "conservative".
Of course I have never made any post that can be considered as "hateful" etc.
In best case you just get attacked, painted as a "Trumpist" and downvoted to oblivion.
In the worst case you are banned by mods (I got banned from r/nova because the mods thought I am a "troll")

Since Reddit is a major platform for (political) discussion, how does this relate to free speech rights?

That’s pretty much exactly the way it should be. Go inject some bleach and eat some fish tank cleaner and rid us of your loathsome existence.

Nice. Bet you have a “Be Kind” sign in your yard.

No one should tolerate MAGA trash.

Not all Republicans love Trump just like not all Democrats love Bernie Sanders. No need to strawman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am active on Reddit and a moderate conservative.
I would like to participate in civil discussion in our local subreddits, but it's seems to me that those reddits are VERY unwelcome to any opinion that can be considered "conservative".
Of course I have never made any post that can be considered as "hateful" etc.
In best case you just get attacked, painted as a "Trumpist" and downvoted to oblivion.
In the worst case you are banned by mods (I got banned from r/nova because the mods thought I am a "troll")

Since Reddit is a major platform for (political) discussion, how does this relate to free speech rights?

That’s pretty much exactly the way it should be. Go inject some bleach and eat some fish tank cleaner and rid us of your loathsome existence.

Nice. Bet you have a “Be Kind” sign in your yard.

No one should tolerate MAGA trash.

Not all Republicans love Trump just like not all Democrats love Bernie Sanders. No need to strawman.

Trump is the unequivocal leader of the Republican Party. Sanders is an Independent senator for VT that has lost multiple times in D presidential primaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am active on Reddit and a moderate conservative.
I would like to participate in civil discussion in our local subreddits, but it's seems to me that those reddits are VERY unwelcome to any opinion that can be considered "conservative".
Of course I have never made any post that can be considered as "hateful" etc.
In best case you just get attacked, painted as a "Trumpist" and downvoted to oblivion.
In the worst case you are banned by mods (I got banned from r/nova because the mods thought I am a "troll")

Since Reddit is a major platform for (political) discussion, how does this relate to free speech rights?

That’s pretty much exactly the way it should be. Go inject some bleach and eat some fish tank cleaner and rid us of your loathsome existence.

Nice. Bet you have a “Be Kind” sign in your yard.

No one should tolerate MAGA trash.

Not all Republicans love Trump just like not all Democrats love Bernie Sanders. No need to strawman.

Who did you vote for in 2016 and 2020?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fair enough. However, I think Reddit is not something like Facebook or Twitter. It sets some broad general rules, and lets the subreddit moderators (which are just ordinary people) to manage their subreddits in any way they like (including arbitrary censoring of posts).

Sure someone could create a "competitor" subreddit with no cost, however the existing subreddits already hold a great advantage, since they are around for decades (e.g. r/nova does not only have political posts but also various non-political ones, e.g. traffic posts etc.)

"I think"

Well OK then

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry that you don't like being painted with the brush of your people. You are only as good as the company you keep. If you choose to stand in a tent with the current GOP, it is what it is. We can't help you to sleep at night about that.

Free speech does not mean freedom from all consequences based on your speech. It just means that the government itself cannot retaliate against you or sanction you for the speech it disagrees with. The consequences of your speech is that the people on those reddit board are banning you and telling you that you are a hateful troll.

Wow. Case.In.Point. This is the kind of LWNJ the OP is talking about ^^

She can say what she wants.

Remember that time Trump was mean to a disabled reporter? Yeah.... Talk about setting a standard for civility in political discourse.

I have a solution for the LWNJ, how about "Lock her up!". LWNJ indeed.

[Anonymous]

Reddit is very left-leaning in general. I remember seeing one of those political compass memes that was like “My state’s politics in reality” with a dot in the center of the compass, and “my state’s subreddit” which was way to the left. It’s a known phenomenon - my personal opinion as a long time Reddit user is that since the site relies so much on unpaid volunteer moderators, these people are largely younger and under-employed and thus more likely to be very far left and dogmatic on the political spectrum.

I think the best thing you can do is ignore/downvote all the extreme content - just don’t let it get traction at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:r/nova is mostly people crapping on Maryland drivers. What did you post that got you banned?

I can't find the exact post, but it was about reopening schools back during the pandemic. My argument was just that Virginia should leave schools open and give parents the choice for either in-person or virtual learning, and ban indoor dining instead. Apparently my opinion was troll-ish and got me banned (after having collected a ton of downvotes ofc).

Anonymous wrote:
Even leaving aside the private platform thing the only thing here that could possibly have implications for free speech is banning you. Otherwise, you're just complaining about other people's speech; you're free to voice your opinions, they're free to call you a Trumper. That's free speech in action.

Well the thing is that if you continuously post stuff that people don't "like" in a sub, you collect a huge downvote total and mods ban you because of negative sub contribution.
For example, in r/Virginia and r/VirginiaPolitics you will see that all posts blame Youngkin (not a single one in support of him). If you start posting there in support of him you will get banned sooner or later 100%
Also see above

I mean, you were downvoted for being wrong. Hybrid was infeasible for so many reasons. Nova schools correctly opened in the Spring after the very deadly surge after the 2020 holiday season and the rollout of the vaccines. But I’m guessing that isn’t the only post that got you banned.

[Anonymous]

OP post a link to some of your posts and we'll tell you if the reactions were reasonable or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reddit is very left-leaning in general. I remember seeing one of those political compass memes that was like “My state’s politics in reality” with a dot in the center of the compass, and “my state’s subreddit” which was way to the left. It’s a known phenomenon - my personal opinion as a long time Reddit user is that since the site relies so much on unpaid volunteer moderators, these people are largely younger and under-employed and thus more likely to be very far left and dogmatic on the political spectrum.

I think the best thing you can do is ignore/downvote all the extreme content - just don’t let it get traction at all.

OP here. Your interpretation makes sense about the "under-employed + free time => left-leaning" part.
I'm also thinking that since NoVA suburbs are ~65% blue, it is natural that r/nova is also blue. I accept that, but it is sad to see that the people in this sub are so intolerant to any political view that is not left-leaning (that includes centrists). Maybe this phenomenon is indeed correlated with age.

Anonymous wrote:
I mean, you were downvoted for being wrong.

This is purely based on your point of view. I won't go into the details on why I think you are wrong because this thread is going to be derailed, but I respect your opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:r/nova is mostly people crapping on Maryland drivers. What did you post that got you banned?

I can't find the exact post, but it was about reopening schools back during the pandemic. My argument was just that Virginia should leave schools open and give parents the choice for either in-person or virtual learning, and ban indoor dining instead. Apparently my opinion was troll-ish and got me banned (after having collected a ton of downvotes ofc).

Anonymous wrote:
Even leaving aside the private platform thing the only thing here that could possibly have implications for free speech is banning you. Otherwise, you're just complaining about other people's speech; you're free to voice your opinions, they're free to call you a Trumper. That's free speech in action.

Well the thing is that if you continuously post stuff that people don't "like" in a sub, you collect a huge downvote total and mods ban you because of negative sub contribution.
For example, in r/Virginia and r/VirginiaPolitics you will see that all posts blame Youngkin (not a single one in support of him). If you start posting there in support of him you will get banned sooner or later 100%
Also see above

Again, those are just the consequences of you speaking and other people having opinions about that speech and voicing them in a way appropriate to the forum. And you can disagree with them! You're not even banned from the whole platform, just from the particular sub. You have no right to speak in a particular privately owned forum, platform, or publication. That's not a thing.

[Anonymous]

https://m.xkcd.com/1357/

Continues to be relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reddit is very left-leaning in general. I remember seeing one of those political compass memes that was like “My state’s politics in reality” with a dot in the center of the compass, and “my state’s subreddit” which was way to the left. It’s a known phenomenon - my personal opinion as a long time Reddit user is that since the site relies so much on unpaid volunteer moderators, these people are largely younger and under-employed and thus more likely to be very far left and dogmatic on the political spectrum.

I think the best thing you can do is ignore/downvote all the extreme content - just don’t let it get traction at all.

OP here. Your interpretation makes sense about the "under-employed + free time => left-leaning" part.
I'm also thinking that since NoVA suburbs are ~65% blue, it is natural that r/nova is also blue. I accept that, but it is sad to see that the people in this sub are so intolerant to any political view that is not left-leaning (that includes centrists). Maybe this phenomenon is indeed correlated with age.

Anonymous wrote:
I mean, you were downvoted for being wrong.

This is purely based on your point of view. I won't go into the details on why I think you are wrong because this thread is going to be derailed, but I respect your opinion.

Meh. I have family in very red states, and people there are just as intolerant of political views that aren't sufficiently "conservative." It's fun to blame this all on the blues, but tall the actual government censorship attempts are coming from red states, school boards, and politicians.

And "intolerant" apparently means that they don't agree with you and don't want to listen to you, which is a completely normal thing that people do and consistent with freedom of speech and association. No one has to obligation to listen to what you have to say. You're not being persecuted or prosecuted.