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Reddit Bans Subreddit Dedicated To Finding Navy Yard Shooters 159

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Reddit became a gathering place for amateur sleuthing in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing earlier this year, fueling what some reports called 'online witch hunts' that resulted in some people being falsely identified as the bomber. Now Andrea Peterson reports at the Washington Post that a section on the popular online community for finding the Navy Yard shooters has been banned. 'We banned it because it violated site rules by encouraging the posting of personal information,' says Erik Martin from reddit. The shooting at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday morning left at least 12, including a gunman dead. But police say there may be another suspect at large, and they 'have reason to believe' this individual was involved in shootings."
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Reddit Bans Subreddit Dedicated To Finding Navy Yard Shooters

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  • Pointless (Score:3, Funny)

    by Revek ( 133289 ) on Monday September 16, 2013 @07:12PM (#44868369)

    Since 4chan will just get it wrong for them.

  • by alen ( 225700 ) on Monday September 16, 2013 @07:15PM (#44868397)

    Just tell me who to beat senseless with mob justice and I'm there

    • by Anonymous Coward
      We've discovered his Slashdot user ID number is 225700, we'll have his address for you shortly. Lock and load.
      • Yeah, look at that. He can't even spell "Alan" correctly - obviously a sleeper.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    ...went really well for Reddit. They probably banned it just for the potential deluge of bad publicity.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by icebike ( 68054 )

      Went really well for the NSA too.
      Another one they missed. No doubt it will be time to beg congress for more money to redouble their effort.
      I'm sure we will all feel safer then. /s

  • by Sarusa ( 104047 ) on Monday September 16, 2013 @07:29PM (#44868493)

    And right after they'd managed to finger Lee Harvey Oswald.

    Coincidence? Follow the money, sheeple!

  • Brilliant (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Intrepid imaginaut ( 1970940 ) on Monday September 16, 2013 @07:35PM (#44868545)

    As I recall and TFS states these Sherlocks managed to wrongly identify at least one person in the Boston bombings and correctly identify none, so good riddance to any further efforts in that direction.

  • Having been on the receiving end of one such "investigation" [antiwar.com], I can say, I'm glad, the justice is not as swift these days.

    But you can't ban this — not without abolishing the First Amendment...

    • Give them time. Soon it will join the 4th in applying only to you in your home... with the door closed... and the curtains drawn... in your basement.. by yourself... sometimes.

    • by tocsy ( 2489832 ) on Monday September 16, 2013 @08:00PM (#44868755)

      Sure they can. Reddit can allow/disallow whatever they want - the First Amendment covers rights of free speech against the government only.

    • by DRJlaw ( 946416 ) on Monday September 16, 2013 @08:10PM (#44868813)

      But you can't ban this â" not without abolishing the First Amendment...

      For values of "you" which equal the Federal government, a State government, a municipality, or some other government actor.

      First amendment: "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech..."

      Fourteenth amendment: "nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;"
      Held to bring the States within the umbrella of the first amendment in Gitlow v. New York.

      However, Reddit is not a government actor. More to the point, Reddit has absolute editorial discretion under the Communications Decency Act -- so that even case law concerning speech in company towns and shopping centers cannot be used by analogy to create any obligation for the site to permit it.

      Reddit could ban it, your local paper could ban it, and your ad-supported or paid email service could ban it. They simply don't have the power to throw you in jail or confiscate your money if you violate the ban.

      • Well, the part about "you" meaning the government was created by liberals trying to prove that "the people" really means state governments or everyone collectively as a group but not any individual person.

        I really wish they would stop doing that and admit that "the people" means every single one of us individually.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    http://vigilantcitizen.com/hidden-knowledge/origins-and-techniques-of-monarch-mind-control/ [vigilantcitizen.com]

    Monarch Programming is a method of mind control used by numerous organizations for covert purposes. It is a continuation of project MK-ULTRA, a mind-control program developed by the CIA, and tested on the military and civilians. The methods are astonishingly sadistic (its entire purpose is to traumatize the victim) and the expected results are horrifying: [...]

    • http://vigilantcitizen.com/hidden-knowledge/origins-and-techniques-of-monarch-mind-control/ [vigilantcitizen.com]

      Monarch Programming is a method of mind control used by numerous organizations for covert purposes. It is a continuation of project MK-ULTRA, a mind-control program developed by the CIA, and tested on the military and civilians. The methods are astonishingly sadistic (its entire purpose is to traumatize the victim) and the expected results are horrifying: [...]

      Do not touch your dial.

      We control the horizontal.
      We control the vertical.

      And you, dear AC, should control you alcohol and other drug intake. Hope you start feeling better soon.

    • by LoRdTAW ( 99712 )

      If you believe this please seek medical help for your mental condition. I am serious. I knew one person who went from dapper young stud to paranoid nut bag after a stint in jail (lesson in life, don't hit a white man in the rural south if the color of your skin is significantly darker than his, even if he provokes you). Everywhere he looked he saw conspiracy, chemtrails, mind control, new world order, etc. He lost it, even smashed a brand new laptop he spent 1200 on after only two weeks when he thought the

  • "Police are now looking for shooters car in and around Navy Yard. Its described as Black Nissan with Texas tag BJH-7396.

    Paul Wagner
    Fox5Wagner

    via Twitter about 1h ago"
    • The difference is they are the police. That is their job, they are professionals, they have training, and they are accountable.

      Reddit users? None of those apply.

      • by libtek ( 902569 )
        That was via Twitter... A social media site.

        FOX News, nor Twitter apply either... They are obviously making an open release to the public, for any pertinent information. Or did I misunderstand the Make and Model plus Licence Plate registration info? They are just telling us that THEY are looking, right?
        • The police issued the statement to the press that they were looking for a black Nissan with that license plate. Fox News, a media outlet, published the statement. People with information on this Nissan should contact the police, not Reddit.

          • by libtek ( 902569 )
            Reddit is not people. I gotcha.

            You could have said that first.

            Seems kind of silly to me that *any* method of public dissemination, which could share the EXACT SAME INFORMATION, would be censored. I wish them luck.
            • What are you talking about? Reddit is not publishing official police statements. They're trying to do their own investigation. Last time this happened it was a spectacular failure that implicated two innocent people. Reddit's management clearly does not want that happening again.

      • The difference is they are the police. That is their job, they are professionals, they have training, and they are accountable.

        It's their job, professionalism varies widely, the training is literally community college, and HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  • preliminary research indicate the shooter was registered Democrat, Obama supporter, muslim and gay. Obama's teleprompter is going to drill a hole in the ground with the spin job.

    • oh my, now it turned out perp didn't even use an AR-15, instead he used a shotgun just like Joe Biden said every American should use for home defense.

      passed federal background check for his contractor job too, maybe those wouldn't make a dent in gun crime?

  • The NSA most likely has more than enough information to secretly try and convict this person. Notice to arm chair vigilantes, the government is already more than likely to have all these peoples internet search histories, all their acquaintances and all their phone calls. And that presumes that normal everyday monitoring hadn't already flagged them for extra scrutinity!

    Rest assured citizen, you are in good hands! Just don't band together informally, remember, that's what the terrerists do!

    • The NSA most likely has more than enough information to secretly try and convict this person

      NSA has enough information to secretly try and convict EVERY American.

  • Social media is great for a lot of things such as getting different points of view on a news topic. Social media is not good for witch hunts. Anyone who's used reddit knows how easily the hivemind is swayed to hate or love someone. All it takes is a cleverly worded article romanticizing about how great or how awful someone is. People who know the formula can almost flip a switch to the entire community.

    Witch hunts are bad enough when it is just a corporation behaving badly. Thread people talk about passing out pitch forks and so forth and so on. There definitely is a witch hunt mentality sometimes on reddit. And normally it is mostly harmless. Dumb, but harmless. Social media is good for a lot of things, but crime solving is not one of these things.

    Real media is threatened by social media. So anything that is bad in social media, real media will highlight hard. They'll try everything they can to discourage people from using social media and outright close it down if they can. So it is better that social media witch hunts get shut down prematurely, before someone determines themselves to be a vigilante or otherwise act dumb out in public.

    To conclude social media should be used for it strengths such as bringing attention to intelligent conversations, humor, and different points of view. This is refreshing compared to main stream media which every channel is corrupted by political agendas so there is no such thing as different points of view that are correct. Social media has weaknesses, and maybe we should really act to make sure these weaknesses don't go out of control.
    • I'd say that social media is tailor made for witch hunts as the whole point of witch hunts is to incorrectly convict and execute somebody.

  • All that happens on such a subreddit is wild speculation. Last time they did it, innocent people wrongly identified got harrassed IRL. They're not detectives. Just send any real tips direct to the FBI.

The use of anthropomorphic terminology when dealing with computing systems is a symptom of professional immaturity. -- Edsger Dijkstra

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