Jeff, would you consider doing an AMA?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Has your view on what you might consider a misogynist, racist, mean, defamatory, or just plain nasty post that should be deleted shifted over the years?

Yes, dramatically. When we first started I pretty much thought anyone should be able to post just about anything. I was of the opinion that words were just words and if you didn’t like them, you could ignore them. I was very much in “the cure for speech you don’t like is speech you like” camp. But then I started to understand the impact of abuse minorities and women constantly face, especially online.

It also took me a while to learn something that I don’t think is really understood about a site like this. Those that tend to use racist and misogynistic language and so on comprise a fairly large group of users — far larger than I think we like to acknowledge. Moreover, they can be among the most active users. There is a certain fear of blocking them or removing their posts because doing so can cost you a big chunk of your users. But, what I’ve found is that the negative impact of such posters far outweighs any benefit they might bring with their traffic. Moreover, their activity chases away many other users who don’t want to deal with them. So, wholesale blocking actually grows traffic to the site rather than decreasing it. It is almost counter-intuitive.

[Anonymous]

Do you remember the guy that posted a nude at 3-4 am? I'm sometimes up too early and reported it immediately, with some funny comment that I can't remember. That guy was a registered member, too! It was hilarious and obviously it wasn't deleted until a more civilized hour.

Did you PM him and virtually kick his a§§?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:why are you so liberal

and will you ever admit your liberal bias on things

I am liberal because I have the ability to empathize with others and I try to think beyond the narrow confines of what will directly benefit me. I try to think about what will benefit us.

When have I ever denied my liberal bias?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think any “famous” people (politicians, celebrities, or otherwise) read and/or post on DCUM? Kind of like Hillary Clinton’s admitted fascination with HGTV.

I am aware of a few "minor" celebrities that have read and maybe still read the site. I don't know any really big names. I suspect that have people to do that for them.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Do you delete a lot of posts about Bernie Sanders? I have noticed that my posts in favor of him are/were disappearing. This was mostly in the past. I am wondering if this is due to Bernie posters? Or are the replies these posts get offensive? Thanks.

I don't notice that I delete more about Sanders than any other politician. The reputation of Sanders supporters being massive jerks online is not entirely without merit. I say that as a Sanders supporter.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you proficient in other languages?

I have studied French and Arabic. I was once conversational in French and pretty good at reading, writing, and speaking Arabic. But I am really bad with languages and can't really do much with either of them now. These days even English is a challenge.

Merci

What drove you study Arabic?

My mother is of Lebanese ancestry. Because of that connection I became interested in the Middle East and wanted to study the region. Language knowledge is pretty much required and Arabic seemed the obvious choice.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for all you do, Jeff!

Are you aware of another site like this with a high HHI average among users/posters?

No, sorry I don't.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Would you consider running for president?

LOL. I was actually thinking about it as a joke this year. Last time Trump only got about 5% of the vote. I thought it might be fun to see if I could get more votes than him. But it seems like too much trouble.

[Anonymous]

Are people identifiable by IP address? (you should read the book "Followers" and you'll see why I ask!) I mean I know you can tell which posts come from the same address, but can you link them to an individual by address, iphone, etc?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Do you remember the guy that posted a nude at 3-4 am? I'm sometimes up too early and reported it immediately, with some funny comment that I can't remember. That guy was a registered member, too! It was hilarious and obviously it wasn't deleted until a more civilized hour.

Did you PM him and virtually kick his a§§?

I don't remember that. I am sure that I didn't PM him. I probably just blocked him.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Are people identifiable by IP address? (you should read the book "Followers" and you'll see why I ask!) I mean I know you can tell which posts come from the same address, but can you link them to an individual by address, iphone, etc?

No. An IP address by itself is not enough to identify someone by named, address, or phone. If I know a lot about some person and know that they post here, I may be able to guess a post is by them depending upon what it says. I suppose I might be able to identify a person if I linked together a lot of posts that together disclosed a lot of information about them. I've never tried to do that so I don't know how successful I'd be.

[Anonymous]

Do posters who use mobile devices make your job harder, since their IP addresses change constantly? Is it more difficult to keep track of those posters?

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why are you so liberal

and will you ever admit your liberal bias on things

I am liberal because I have the ability to empathize with others and I try to think beyond the narrow confines of what will directly benefit me. I try to think about what will benefit us.

When have I ever denied my liberal bias?

Followup

Do you think Conservatives only think about what benefits them vs what benefits society. Can you agree there are multiple ways to get to what benefits us and that perhaps liberals are wrong sometimes.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Do posters who use mobile devices make your job harder, since their IP addresses change constantly? Is it more difficult to keep track of those posters?

Yes, and they tend to be the biggest troublemakers.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has your view on what you might consider a misogynist, racist, mean, defamatory, or just plain nasty post that should be deleted shifted over the years?

Yes, dramatically. When we first started I pretty much thought anyone should be able to post just about anything. I was of the opinion that words were just words and if you didn’t like them, you could ignore them. I was very much in “the cure for speech you don’t like is speech you like” camp. But then I started to understand the impact of abuse minorities and women constantly face, especially online.

It also took me a while to learn something that I don’t think is really understood about a site like this. Those that tend to use racist and misogynistic language and so on comprise a fairly large group of users — far larger than I think we like to acknowledge. Moreover, they can be among the most active users. There is a certain fear of blocking them or removing their posts because doing so can cost you a big chunk of your users. But, what I’ve found is that the negative impact of such posters far outweighs any benefit they might bring with their traffic. Moreover, their activity chases away many other users who don’t want to deal with them. So, wholesale blocking actually grows traffic to the site rather than decreasing it. It is almost counter-intuitive.

Thanks, Jeff. For what it's worth, I decided awhile back that it was harmful to me to read the volume of vitriol online against women and minorities, and stopped reading sites where I saw that. I guess that makes me one of the ones who increased your volume. DCUM is a nice exception to the vitriol I see elsewhere. I also appreciate how quickly you delete racist and sexist posts.