Reddit steps up its fight against harassment, users are unimpressed

By Jason Hahn Published May 16, 2015

If you’re a Reddit user or lurker, you’re well aware that the online community driven by user-generated content and comments can sometimes devolve into a cesspool that reflects the worst of human beings injected with the boldness that comes with an “anonymous” username. (If you’re unfamiliar with Reddit, now you know.) The people running Reddit are aware of this problem, so on Thursday they declared war on harassment that takes place on its turf. Some users, however, are McKayla Maroney levels of unimpressed.

The social network’s blog post begins with a TL;DR: “We are unhappy with harassing behavior on Reddit; we have survey data that show our users are, too. So we’ve improved our practices to better curb harassment of individuals on Reddit.”

Recommended Videos

While the post lauds the blossoming conversations taking places in various subreddits, it also laments conversations that turn into attacks against individuals. “We are also seeing more harassment and different types of harassment as people’s use of the Internet and the information available on the Internet evolve over time. For example, some users are harassing people across platforms and posting links on reddit to private information on other sites.”

As a result, Reddit laid out a rather vague plan of attack against harassment on its site. It starts by defining harassment: “Systematic and/or continued actions to torment or demean someone in a way that would make a reasonable person (1) conclude that reddit is not a safe platform to express their ideas or participate in the conversation, or (2) fear for their safety or the safety of those around them.”

Users who think they’re being harassed on Reddit are encouraged to emailing contact@reddit.com or modmailing the site. Reddit will rely less on moderators and take a more hands-on approach to investigating reports of harassment going forward.

Like many well-intentioned things shared with the Reddit community, Reddit’s public vow to fight harassment was met with criticism, first and foremost about the narrative painted by using survey data from March, which left something to be desired. Users also seem confused about what, exactly, the action plan is when a user is found to be harassing someone on the site.

Reddit’s privacy policy, updated last month to address involuntary pornography, does not include a new section for harassment yet.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Jason Hahn is a part-time freelance writer based in New Jersey. He earned his master's degree in journalism at Northwestern…

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content -- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.