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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   44935 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

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Let's kick this CW thread off with a discussion of the KiwiFarms attacks. Broad strokes include:

CloudFlare posted just yesterday on how they were turning off KiwiFarms use of their DDOS protection. This was 4 days after their post attempting to explain their "abuse policies" and how they would respond to such things, a casual reading of which would suggest that they would not do this. Their claimed justification for this was "potential criminal acts and imminent threats to human life that were posted to the site". They did not detail exactly what acts and threats were posted and the nature of the site moderator's response.

KiwiFarms is back up at https://kiwifarms.ru/ (note that this is somewhat spotty, they are still actively under attack) (https://archive.ph/2tS7Y should work if their site is not responding at the moment). The site admin has created a post here in which he lists the user and post that he suspects was the trigger for this, the reasons why he thinks the post was suspicious, and the actions the admins took in response, which included banning the user in about half an hour.

To me this looks like a flop on CloudFlare's part. KiwiFarms may or may not be honest in their explanation post, but it's a lot more detail than anyone's posted on the "ban it" side on exactly what were the posts of concern.

The moment Cloudflare started defending its actions, it was clear to me they were about to capitulate. Those who are steadfast in their principles do not bother justifying it; principle stands on its own two feet. Cloudflare is best understood as another tentacle of Left, Inc., with all that entails, and any protestations otherwise are a thin veneer of impartiality that will not be backed up by action.

This is the fatal flaw of centralization of power, regardless of the form that power takes; the internet is small now. Far too small.

Those who are steadfast in their principles do not bother justifying it

Cloudflare is a decently sized company - they have a director of public relations, who might want a statement. A statement gives people who aren't sure potential reasons to not hate cloudflare. It also clarifies future moderation policies, which is important. Also, if prince is a committed libertarian, a statement of principles helps convince others to follow those principles too!

If that is what you believe I will not try to dissuade you. I will only say I knew Cloudflare would capitulate and many others did not; I consider my worldview more valid than theirs and yours.

Just arguing that 'making a statement' doesn't imply 'not principled', nothing about whether or not they'd drop kiwifarms.

You described a thought process revolving around public relations and fooling the audience with rhetoric while you take action to undermine the very ideals you speak of. Forgive me if I continue to think that does, in fact, imply not principled.

I'm not saying they're committed and pure libertarians, just that why would not making a post make them less likely to compromise? "not make libertarian post, still drop them" is also plausible.

A refusal to make a statement indicates a disconnect with the very mealy-mouthed manipulative PR culture I'm railing against. If you take the backfoot with the mob, it is an immediate and undeniable sign that the mob can beat you.

I'm not meaning to act like an internet tough guy here, but I have been the subject of smear campaigns and online harassment in the past. My response never amounted to more than "fuck you" when people brought it up, and it worked very well.

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