Are corporations abandoning message boards? - General Discussion Discussion

[–] Redsfan001 (6000) 3 years ago

I noticed that the new YouTube version also is making comments harder to do, as well as looking at them.

I haven't come across anything in business news to suggest that this is the case, but it makes sense to do so.

Russian troll farms, extremist groups etc are a concern for these major companies. The liability is not a factor now, but the winds are changing.

reply

[–] brodee (467) 3 years ago

No, that trash is a concern for people who have no other concerns in their life. In reality, you're talking about an extremely small problem that is given a lot more attention than it deserves... mostly because people don't have enough real problems to concern themselves with.

It's not like running message boards is a major expense, if you have a website you can easily sideload bbs software on the same server. Of course that leads to more security issues to deal with more maintenance, but the costs are effectively covered by what you're already paying for professionals to keep your webpage up.

It's probably more that companies find they can do it and still keep customers.

reply

[–] Redsfan001 (6000) 3 years ago

The main issue is policing of what is deemed freedom of speech and what is over the line offensive and racist rants, what is actual news, what is dangerous rumor.This takes very good AI programs to solve this problem, even then it's not perfect. Facebook has to employ thousands of people across the world to just tamp down dangerous rumor rants that can lead to mob violence.

They also know that change is coming from the US Congress, the law that shields the internet companies from lawsuits is on thin ice, more and more companies are just saying f*** it.

This site might just do the same.

reply

[–] brodee (467) 3 years ago

You're making the mistake of assuming that companies actually police their own message boards for that stuff. That's TWITTER, FACEBOOK, etc... Companies that have their own message boards either didn't police at all or said "we're not social media" with strict rules (i.e. no politics)

As I said, all of that nonsense you're talking about is way overblown... it only affects a small portion of the internet.

reply

[–] Redsfan001 (6000) 3 years ago

The US law that shields them is probably going to change in the next few years.

Companies will be responsible for policing content.

Example : The Tom Cruise thread OP "Is so obviously gay" will enact a lawsuit from his powerful attorneys.

reply

[–] brodee (467) 3 years ago

Until it does, you're just fear mongering. That's like saying we need to start shutting abortion clinics down now because the US law that shields them will probably change in the next few years.

Every effort to repeal the protections afforded to online agencies has been met with massive public backlash, remember SOPA and PROTECT IP? It's way too easy to get Americans to believe congress is "breaking the internet" since they mindlessly listen to what Google tells them. Of course US law doesn't affect overseas companies so all that will do is have companies move to a nation that doesn't have US Law.

Really, the whole fight against the far-right isn't on message boards, it's on the public and easy to find Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.... you really don't see that stuff pop up as much as you believe it does elsewhere.

reply

[–] Redsfan001 (6000) 3 years ago

A good business doesn't wait for the law to change, they make bets on if it will.

It seems most of the big boy's are predicting it will and are preparing to augment their business models to accommodate the change.

It's not a left/right thing, this is about advertising revenue evaporating because the company has a message board.

reply

[–] Iffy762 (1331) 3 years ago

I think a lot of moderating is required in order to make message boards work well. I think message boards are not going to last. I think also a lot of the content that has been free ("free") on the internet is going to gradually continue to go behind paywalls. That is already happening. We might have to actually start talking to our neighbors again (oh noes....) instead of spending all our free time surfing the interwebz.

reply

[–] actionkamen (23176) 3 years ago

Because message boards / comments don't make them any money anymore. There is no conspiracy theory here. It's also not about freedom of speech, trolls or spam. It's just it, money.

Proof: Websites that are actually get money from comments don't abandon commenting system, e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, etc. Do they get trolls? Yes. Do they get spam? Yes. Do they abandon it? No. Because that's their bread and butter.

reply

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Yeah its about money, and right now what corporations *think* is what people want, is woke PC BS and sucking upto China to get the huge Chinese market aka money as you said.

But as a result, when people talk the truth online, it goes against woke PC culture, thus its a problem for corporations as they want to make money
So they get rid of the message boards

reply

[–] actionkamen (23176) 3 years ago

How do you explain Facebook then? Aren't they afraid of people talk the truth online that goes againts woke PC culture? Why don't they abandon their commenting system too? Because Facebook isn't woke?

reply

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Facebook is pre woke, they have adapted with their developments in reporting functionality

However they also know that more people on facebook are anti woke, and they don't want to loose them as active users which hurts the add revenue dollars

So they balance it, on a tight rope, trying to maximize money.

Woke people complain? Advanced reporting functionality implemented as the solution

reply

[–] actionkamen (23176) 3 years ago

Let's talk when "advanced reporting functionality" happens.

For now, Facebook is all for the money. As long as money comes from people commenting they're not going to abandon commenting system. Money > wokeness.

reply

[–] snepts (11123) 3 years ago

Your message boards are a way to push a negative agenda and the rest of us have to figure out a way to negate this.
If ugly people were an obvious minority, we wouldn't have a problem.
But when ugly people look like they are gaining traction, we have to marshal against it.

reply

[–] ace2 (543) 3 years ago

Regarding money: I never thought it was about the message boards making money directly, it was about keeping the sites "sticky" so viewers return often to spend money or see advertising elsewhere. I think this still works - in my case my visits to IMDB are probably down 95% since they disabled their boards. But maybe they are trying to make it more for industry insiders rather than fans.

Even Starbuck's whose business model was founded on its social atmosphere is repurposing locations to focus more on drive through. Maybe we have gotten to the point where we are unable to interact productively. (Obviously social media is based on user interaction so they cannot abandon it - but even they seem to be on the decline)

reply

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Yeah they wanted to clean it up, Amazon is a public traded company

They wanted to corporatise it

reply

[–] Artisan (3464) 3 years ago

My theory is that a lot of the corporations are Woke and they do not like seeing the Riff Raff talk about non PC topics and voicing Non PC views.

I noticed with IMDb that their closure of the boards coincided with a lot more Conservative posts being made. It is the same with Yahoo, Netflix etc they want to control what is being said and who sees it.

IMDb (or the entertainment industry) also most likely didn't appreciate seeing their products and stars being mocked and torn apart. Bad for business.

There is also the moderation issue some posts are just trolling. Youtube is a current good example.

reply

[–] BillHicksFan (10085) 3 years ago

woke = asleep

and I don't believe most of them... It's all business. People who want to avoid being ostracized, or banned from a certain message board.

reply

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Yeah they (corporations) just think people like woke PC BS, because they see people whinge on twitter cause they have shit lives. But they like think, everyone thinks that.
Lots of people actually think Twitter represents the real world, while most of the world is not on Twitter, lol.

Yeah the directors couldn't give two shits, and they hire some Community Manager roles or some woke PC role that they just created, and they laugh while voting on it in the board room saying wonder what loosers are going to apply for this. I don't care, whatever makes the company more money

Then few years on, company directors noticed that if they hire the right HR people, they can create a "family" replacement type culture, that way the people work harder for less money, and all they need to do to get that.
Is drop 150-200k across 2-3 new roles in HR, lock in wage freezes for 3 years, prob saved the company 5-6million in wages.

Meanwhile the employees are like, how great is this place! There's a pool table and everything, too bad we cant play with it otherwise it looks like we are slacking off :(
The company directors are like, mmm thats a good $400 dollar table tennis table

reply

[–] BillHicksFan (10085) 3 years ago

Well said... Illusions and associations. I think the goal of "power" is to confuse everyone, which is so apparent with how people don't even know simple political terms.. I think the government should subsidize paperback dictionaries to every American.

reply

[–] snepts (11123) 3 years ago

What are "loosers"? When I was young and trying to "lern" I knew the difference between losers and loose.

reply

[–] snepts (11123) 3 years ago

I'm sure you are trying hard but your point is incomprehensible.

reply

[–] Artisan (3464) 3 years ago

To some degree for sure. But I also consider that as the Universities and Colleges push Left wing doctrine the management of these corporations probably believe in what they are doing as well.

I'm Australian and my workplace is very Left wing. We had an American guy work with us and he was bitching to me because the managers were all bagging Trump. He told me how these guys just don't get it. By the way, he was Hispanic and was talking about how the Democrat's ruined so many towns with their policies.

Anyway, my point is that these managers pushing this crap are out of touch and brainwashed.

reply

[–] BillHicksFan (10085) 3 years ago

I would remove the term "left-wing" and substitute it with "Democrat" - who are not even close to being left-wing.

reply

[–] Artisan (3464) 3 years ago

I'm not American so Democrat down here is a defunct political party.

reply

[–] snepts (11123) 3 years ago

Try looking at yourself some time. You might see someone who is brainwashed as well.

reply

[–] Artisan (3464) 3 years ago

Nah. I know exactly what is happening.

reply

[–] brux (14666) 3 years ago

I like the chat boards, but considering what they all turn into I don't blame them.

What I find very sad is that even Amazon is shutting down or crippling some of
their former functionality.

For example, when you leave a review of a product, it use to be that when someone
commented on it you would get a notification. That doesn't see to work any more.
When you could comment on someone's review, or someone would comment on
your review you used to be able to up or down vote it. You can now only find a
review helpful or not ... period.

When you ask a question on a production you also cannot comment on the answers.
If someone asks you a question about your review or experience - you may never
find out about it, and they may never get an answer.

reply

[–] ace2 (543) 3 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ducksoup (3933) 3 years ago

Mass media wants to socially distance itself from social media. Twitter? Ew...

reply

[–] TimMC (9143) 3 years ago

They don't like or want your opinion.
They don't want arguments on their boards/forums/reviews.
NETFLIX example: They only want positivity unless it comes from the the company itself, like Cuties or Dear White People or that insane show Bill Nye the pretend science guy was in(horrible).

reply