Walk us through the steps you would take to report a post that said
I’m going to go light up this Walmart tonight, watch for me on the news
Would you just start spamming their email and IP information to every police department on Earth?
What’s the plan if you report someone’s email and IP and they end up being a SWATting victim who gets killed by the cops? Is UP liable, are you personally liable?
If reporting people to the cops is a requirement of you being a mod, maybe you shouldn’t be a mod.
The US government is in a horrible state because the Founding Fathers gave too much trust to the idea that elected officials would use good judgment. So, yeah, I don’t want to assume that a mod will always act appropriately. I feel better locking down as much as possible.
That being said, if you think someone is a imminent threat of violence, maybe it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.
I’d call the FBI (I just Googled to see if they have a tip line), and provide the threat, and the poster’s e-mail and IP information. If the threat was specific to a location, I’d also call the local police there.
I’m pretty confident that UP and myself would not be liable legally. Morally, I guess that’s up to each individual person. Like the risk of someone registering another e-mail and spoofing someone’s IP to get them SWATted like that seems far lower than the risk of the actual poster being on the way to a mass shooting, so reporting it seems obvious.
That’s for the community to decide. If a majority of the community thinks that we should not report imminent threats to the authorities and include the poster’s e-mail and IP address, it’s not going to be an issue because not only will I have no desire to be a mod, I’ll have no desire to be a part of the community.
This is just outrageous to me.
Good for them, maybe we should pass the hat so they can get more water.
That’s not an imminent threat of violence in my book. But we could define it as lethal violence or potentially lethal violence.
That’s on them to decide what to do with that information, it’s not an imminent threat.
Again, it’s not an imminent threat. It’s not even a threat.
Well, we should make a decision about it as a community first because in all of the situations where it would be considered, there isn’t going to be time to have a poll and spend three or four days arguing about it.
I mean, if I’m a mod and I think someone is an imminent threat to go kill people, I’m definitely giving the authorities the relevant info. If the community doesn’t like it, then I shouldn’t be a mod here.
How about just don’t give UP personal info if you’re so worried about it.
Just because we aren’t legally required to turn over info doesn’t mean it’s illegal to turn it over. The question is what is the right thing to do? The only time it matters is when it’s an urgent/imminent situation and one mod/admin has to make the decision quickly.
You say I’m using the most extreme example, but your examples are equally extreme on the other end of the spectrum. Like nobody here is turning over identifying info over a milkshaking threat. But how extreme is my example? I mean, shit, numerous people disagree with me and it’s a real thing that could happen, given that it’s happened in real life.
Nothing brings people to a site like needing to use a VPN so you don’t get doxxed by the mods.
I mean, literally every site you go to has your IP, if you’re that uptight about it getting released, you should indeed have a VPN.
It’s pretty convenient that you refuse to go case by case when the only case we’re discussing is an imminent lethal threat.
Essentially what you’re saying is that if someone comes on here and says they’re on their way to shoot up a WalMart that we should just shrug and refuse to turn over their IP address, and if 15 or 20 people get killed, oh well, privacy from authority is important. That’s pretty fucked up.
Looks like we need another poll, I guess.
I’m increasingly shocked and devastated by the moral stances of people around here who I very much respected. Maybe I just don’t fit into this group anymore.
Like a significant percentage think we should allow people to post violent rhetoric and apparently numerous people think we should tell the authorities to pound sand and get a warrant if someone threatens a mass shooting. Like this is literally a recipe for disaster.
I thought the left wing hate group bullshit was a joke, now I’m starting to wonder if that’s ultimately where this place is headed - to become the equal and opposite force of 22 Pol.
If rules 6 & 7 aren’t strong enough and the site policy is to protect privacy at all costs even in extreme situations, THAT is the slippery slope people should be concerned with. There is a risk of dead bodies at the bottom of that slippery slope.
God forbid you refrain yourself from posting that you’re on the way to carry out an act of violence. I mean what kind of asshole mod would dare to “doxx” somebody over a little thing like that?
Even using the word doxx in this situation is a joke.
Remember, we’re trying to make general rules for the site, not rules specific to whatever scenario you cook up.
You only want to do this in extreme cases, future mods may want to be like _augie and use their moderator powers for nefarious purposes, and the rules should reflect that possibility.
I swear to god you guys are trolling. You’re freely giving your IP address out all day long. No one is searching your car, you’re giving UP the info.
Just use a VPN if it’s this critical to keep it hidden. And maybe don’t make explicit violent threats? Is this really that complicated?
Trolly, Please shut up. You are not helping. You are completely missing what is being discussed here. Jeez. Please stop.
We are literally discussing whether you should call the cops if your friend says he’s going to shoot up a school and somehow people are opposed.
Are you drunk?
That is not what we are discussing at all.
Please stop.
On some level, it feels like some of the disagreement stems from you advocating for a consequentialist point of view and other people being more deontological.
I happen to see a distinction between killing and letting someone die. Other people don’t.
Also, cuse and the other mods have always had access to your IP and last I checked none of them went around recklessly handing it out to the cops on a whim, so maybe this isn’t such a big deal?
Just don’t give mod power to assholes.
The community will be approving all mods and capable of removing them by a vote. Basically what you’re saying is that the risk that one person’s privacy is violated by one mod is so important that we cannot allow mods to use their reasoning capability to make a decision to try to save a life/lives in the situation of an imminent threat.
The community has a right to decide that, but I think it’s a horrible decision.
I apologize for this post. (Carry on.)