Ger in the CloudApr 14, 2023
Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

Wow that #Substack CEO interview is a train wreck:
https://www.theverge.com/23681875/substack-notes-twitter-elon-musk-content-moderation-free-speech

Q: No, I really want you to answer that question. Is that allowed on Substack Notes? “We should not allow brown people in the country.”

A: I’m not going to get into gotcha content moderation.

Q: This is not a gotcha... I’m a brown person. Do you think people on Substack should say I should get kicked out of the country?

A: I’m not going to engage in content moderation, “Would you or won’t you this or that?”

Is Substack Notes a ‘Twitter clone’? We asked CEO Chris Best

Substack enters new territory with the launch of Substack Notes. Can it handle content moderation, running a consumer product, and beefing with Elon Musk and Twitter?

The Verge
Apr 14, 2023 at 1:16pmWeb
Show threadAlex ChaffeeApr 14, 2023
@rysiek yeah, he *totally* wanted to say "yes that kind of racism is okay" -- he *should* have said "yes, we will allow people to say some dumb stuff but here is our plan for moderating out harmful stuff" -- but he didn't even have a plan to point to and seems to think "we just launched yesterday" is an excuse for "we launched without a moderation plan" (it's not)
Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Apr 14, 2023
@alexch I think he got the line about not engaging with hypotheticals and "gotcha" questions from his lawyer or whatever and thought it's amazingly smart.
Show threadploumApr 14, 2023

@rysiek : that’s so dumb. It would have been easy to simply say:

"I would hate someone saying that. But the platform is not about what I like and what I don’t. There’s a professional team dedicated to moderation and setting rules based on laws and global moderation policies that work instead of what the CEO like or not."

It would have said the same thing, while pointing at Musk and still providing personal sympathy.

The fact that CEO are not even able to do that is concerning.

Show threadJons MostovojsApr 14, 2023
@rysiek lol the guy should do a bloody network effect product 101 course. Practitioners were talking about the inevitability of moderation 20 years ago.
Show threadJons MostovojsApr 14, 2023
@rysiek if only there was a social networking software that appreciates the need for it and gives elaborate, yet easy to use tools for it.
Show threadWoozle HypertwinApr 14, 2023
@jonn @rysiek
Imagine being such a fan of toxic behavior that you actively don't want to ever boot anyone out of your space.
Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Apr 14, 2023

@woozle @jonn he's not a fan of toxic behavior.

He's a fan of VC money.

Show threadWoozle HypertwinApr 14, 2023

@rysiek @jonn but I mean, then that kind of implies that VCs are fond of toxic behavior...

...which I believe is consistent with the idea of "driving enragement"... erm, I meant "engagement"... as a critical factor for plutonomical success.

Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Apr 14, 2023

@woozle @jonn

> then that kind of implies that VCs are fond of toxic behavior...

No no, they just don't want to shut the door on certain kinds of engagement!

> ...which I believe is consistent with the idea of "driving enragement"... erm, I meant "engagement"... as a critical factor for plutonomical success.

Yeah, exactly. "We're not racist, we just happen to believe that racist engagement is more important to our bottom line than your safety."

Show threadWoozle HypertwinApr 14, 2023
@rysiek @jonn
bingo_card.gif
Show threadRiley S. FaelanApr 14, 2023

@woozle: Or, it may be common among VCs to use religious heuristics that savvy startuppers are aware of and, if they're unscrupulous enough, might try to appease even in the absence of a direct enforcement mechnism.

Heuristics such as insisting that one must look like a willing participant in the "hustle culture" in order to be worth as an investment.

@rysiek @jonn

Show threadJeff Zugale - Z FactoryApr 14, 2023
@rysiek a racist just positively reeking of cowardice? Whoda thunk? 🤷‍♂️
Show threadAmanda CarsonApr 14, 2023
@rysiek Reading the transcript now. He's gonna have fun speedrunning the content moderation curve.
Show threadp x l sApr 14, 2023
@rysiek Not a train wreck, just the truth laid bare.