Recently, we merry mods have been noticing many-a-comments being in the report queue for perceived negativity (the aim of the community being to provide “a break from the incessant negativity and rage”). What actions should we do about these, if any? Do we need a newsome another-rule for this?
Here’s what I think: Some skepticism and scrutiny is always quite needed knowledge—especially against information that’s actually untrue/misleading—and any bars I can think of for removing negative comments would apply to reasonable skepticism as well. Thus, the mod team is asking y’all to drop some bars!
Edit
Assorted examples of reported comments
Actually, you’ve missed the mark. It’s not whining about an advancement, it’s legitimate criticism of the US health industry. He’s just saying what we all know to be true which is that regardless of technological improvements, lifesaving care will continue to be ruinously expensive for those that are able to access it and gatekept from many others.
If you have a problem with comments like these undermining celebration of scientific progress, then maybe you should think about the structural political issues that lead people to disillusionment and cynicism rather than labeling people as conspiracy theorists.
You know “big red“ voted for Trump. It’s a cute story, but I hope he gets what he voted for In the end
It’s too bad that curing patients is not a sustainable business model. Even if this did work we would only ever see it developed if you had to take it twice a month for the rest of your life in order to survive.
Edit: sorry, I just noticed this is in Uplifting News. So, let’s be optimistic. Maybe global capitalism will collapse and governments will start trying to take care of people.
Nobody said anything about ICE, we’re talking about the military known for bombing weddings in multiple middle eastern countries and then bombing ambulances when they respond.
If you have the money to commit atrocities in a dozen countries at once, you have money to spare.
That’s .world for you; complaining about Reddit while trying to recreate it exactly
It’s very sad to see hype like this. They only had 30 enrolled, this was just a safety study, and while the data looks promising, there is certainly not enough statistical power, which is why there is no approval yet.
Shame on the BBC. If you are going to quote invesigators, you should state that they have paid consultancy deals with UniQure. The same two people were equally excited about a Roche therapy years ago…
But UniCure stock went up 200% today, which is the point.
I don’t frequent this community, so please take what I say with a grain of salt, but I’m not seeing many bars/criteria which is what is being requested so I’ll throw in my two cents.
\1. If it is reasonable context or updates the average person would want/need, then it should be allowed.
Examples:
“It’s great the old lady recovered from her fall down the stairs, but unfortunately, a few hours after this article, she fell down again : (”
“She fell down the stairs because the step height was inconsistent, that needs to be fixed ASAP.”
\2. If it is pointed, hostile, or drumming up anger, it should NOT be allowed.
Examples:
“It’s the Radical Escalator Group that weakened stair legislation!”
“She should have been more careful. This is clearly on the old lady.”
\3. If it is dismissive of the good news or tries to make people feel bad for enjoying the good news, it should NOT be allowed.
Examples:
“Sure SHE recovered, but what about the hundreds of stair fall victims who don’t?”
“How does this help anyone?”
“If you don’t check the stairs you use and report bad stairs, this is your fault, and you shouldn’t be celebrating her recovery.”
\4. General negativity that does not needlessly effect others should be allowed.
Examples:
“My grandma fell down the stairs too. Hoping for a recovery”
“My stairs are all messed up too, but sadly I rent, so I can’t fix them…”
“This will likely happen again. We should make sure the needed resources for recovery are available, or the next one might not end so happily.”
I do think the only punishment should be removal and a warning, but I do not mod, so I’ll leave that discussion to the experts.
Edit: formatting x2
I agree with this. There will still end up being a good chunk of moderator discretion, but maybe we can come up with some checks for that? Something that distributes the decision making power beyond just one mod.
how would you distinguish between “dismissive of the good news” and “negativity that does not needlessly affect others”? like, what would “Great news for the scions of billionaires, I guess.” in response for a breakthrough in surgery for terminal disease fall under?
On its own, I would call that dismissive. Generally, I would say that “negativity that does not needlessly affect others” is more about adding to the discussion in a healthy but negative way. Personal anecdotes, pushing for future positive action, simple sympathy/empathy, or even the below part of my comment, would be what I would put under this category.
Sadly, I don’t think it is possible to have rigid objective categories due to the subject of this community. But that was my thoughts.