This isn’t your college or work place break room. If people are saying something you disagree with you can just say it and you won’t be fired or ostracized for it. Yeah, people will probably get angry and say mean things to you but those are just words which can be ignored. Offence is taken, not given.
This is mostly for the lurkers who upvote unpopular opinions but don’t comment. You can speak up - you’re not alone.
won’t be fired or ostracized for it.
Wanna bet?
Of course you can. You’re not free from consequences of what you said though. The internet remembers EVERYTHING. Especially on federated platforms like lemmy. Some of my first messages on newsgroups in the 1990’s are still floating around the internet.
Although, what are the odds someone goes to the length to match writing style and personal details that you let slip while using a pseudonymous account against an online presence where you are identifiable?
I’m sure it’s possible, especially if there’s a reason you might be targeted, but I imagine it’s still pretty challenging and time consuming
That’s old style thinking. If that type of matching isn’t already automated and running, it will be soon. They’ll click a button and find you everywhere if you’ve left enough breadcrumbs, so there won’t be any lengths to go to. And as someone who has gone through the cybersec exercises of hardening browsers against fingerprinting, knows what VPN can do and more importantly what it CAN’T do, etc, I can say there are precious few people in the world going to the lengths required to stay truly anonymous. It basically has to become your top priority and constant focus if you want to be successful.
I guess a better question then - when is the juice worth the squeeze?
Like, I’m sure that government agencies have an interest in tracking who is making what comments pseudonymously online, but it would take a lot of effort, computers, money, energy, etc to constantly scan and store information for everyone, right?
Which is where we get into different levels of security - I’m going to try harder to hide my identity if I were to pirate a movie vs browsing Wikipedia.
I guess the question is: who is motivated to collect what information, and what needs to be done to make that identifying information useless for them to connect the dots?
but it would take a lot of effort, computers, money, energy, etc to constantly scan and store information for everyone, right?
You are describing PRISM and it’s been running since 2007.
When they realized how much storage it was going to take the US Government built the UDC at Camp Williams in Utah.
Well shit.
For the government, it’s always worth it as long as the funding is flowing. After all, it’s not like they are footing the bill. You and I are paying for them to spy on us.
As is what you up voted.
Never say anything you aren’t willing to stand behind. Because it won’t go away. And with authoritarian regimes coming to power… you gotta be cognizant of the potential consequences
But generally, I agree with you. The further we get away from groupthink the better we are for it. When we self-censor out of fear of disapproval we are perpetuating the cycle and making it more likely the next person doesn’t speak their mind.
Just because everyone believes something is right, does not mean it is. The majority has been wrong in the past and it will be wrong in the future.
For the past 10 years or so I’ve pretty much assumed that at some point a superintelligent AI or similar will be able to find everyone’s online profiles and link them to the actual person behind them. Then we’ll all be held accountable for the things we’ve said in the past. That’s why I never lie or say something I don’t actually believe in. I’m not proud of every comment I’ve posted but those are my actual beliefs and what ever people will be able to dig up I can stand behind and explain reasoning.
You can be fired for what you say if it is linked back to you. That actually happens pretty regularly
Well, sure if you’re posting with your own name but not when you’re posting as MrPoopbutt.
This is often patently false
Don’t make fun of him, it’s a family name.
On the internet you can just freely say what you really think even if you know it’s unpopular.
This advice is SUPER dependent on where you live. People in the Middle East have been executed for saying the wrong thing on the Internet. People in the UK have been imprisoned for saying the wrong thing online. Criticize social policy or Government in China and its quite possible you’ll be off to prison.
Even in the good Ol’ USA there’s limits to how free your speech can be online.
in minecraft
A fine specimen
If people are saying something you disagree with you can just say it and you won’t be fired or ostracized for it.
But you can be banned which is pretty much the online equivalent to being fired or kicked out of school.
And then because it’s lemmy, you can make a new account on a different instance. Just pretend to be someone else.
On lemmy, you don’t even need to pretend to be be someone else.
Or the same instance. You can also import your settings and continue from where you left.
Egg shells hate this one simple trick
On the other hand, no one is obligated to listen to you, and freedom of speech does not equal freedom from the consequences of said speech. If you voice an unpopular opinion, be prepared to not be popular.
Absolutely. In-fact I’d say most people aren’t blocking enough. If someone thinks of free speech as freedom to be an asshole then they should be blocked by everyone and left to shout into the void. However, I don’t think the unpopularity follows you outside the thread you were saying unpopular things at. The vast majority of people wont remember you.
deleted by creator
Fuck the haters, pineapple pizza is delicious.
You disgust me
So are anchovies
That’s the spirit!
Yeah, people will probably get angry and say mean things to you but those are just words which can be ignored. Offence is taken, not given.
This is naïve. The no one likes being insulted and downvoted for expressing their views. Sure, it doesn’t bother some people as much as others, but it’s not a conscious choice to “just ignore it,” as though that will prevent any negative feelings. The reality is that people with unpopular views stay silent to avoid these consequences, and that’s an entirely rational choice. You would do better to spend your time chastising people who attack those with unpopular views than to try to convince those with unpopular views to willingly expose themselves to online abuse.
I agree. I didn’t quite mean it as “you can just ignore it” but rather that “understand it’s just words and you can learn to not take it personally”
I say plenty of unpopular things here myself and though I have downvotes disabled I can still feel the pain when being dogpiled on despite having years of experience with it. No one is immune to it - we just have different levels of tolerance.
YSK too that not everything that’s said has equal value or merit.
This is important for both expressing and hearing/reading opinions.
That’s patently false.
Ironically one of the first comments I saw in this post was “deleted by a moderator.” I guess that person doesn’t get to say whatever they want.
Lemmy is only pseudonymous and is a bit of an echo chamber. Lots of things you write or otherwise share on the Internet (here or elsewhere) can come back to haunt you.
I heard op of this post is the actual shooter in the murder of the Brian Thompson case. Sources say he went mad after his claim to be turned into a cat e girl was denied by united
Source-trust me bro
It’s just words on a screen. Easy enough to scroll on by without commenting. On my screen, upvote usually means ‘thanks for sharing’ rather then agreement.
My favorite thing is getting downvotes with no reply. It’s like “you’re wrong! but I can’t say why!”
Nice try FBI
During the Bush jr years, I told a coworker that I’d realized that I better start being more mindful about what I posted online. They replied that free speech was their primary marker of liberty and I felt kinda silly.
As we go into a new Trump admin, I am again reminded that I should be mindful what I post because now it’s really gonna go to shit. That asshole plans to weaponize everything. Hence, why I plan on emigrating to a better society.
I do note that OP spelled “offence” the British way. They have less risk of being targeted by lunatics. I’m somewhat hyperbolic is suggesting that I’m moving for safety, but there were also a bunch of people who left Germany and didn’t end up dead. And because I’m not unaware of what I’m saying: see also, Godwin’s law.
