Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet

Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet

Very interesting. "People stood in the common area, holding paper plates, watching a live feed of Place on a wall-mounted TV. One employee, reading the comments, said, “A bunch of people are finding swastikas and then telling everyone else where they are, so that people can go get rid of them.” “I just saw it!” another said. He pointed to a section of the screen. As we watched, one swastika was erased and another was modified to become a Windows 95 logo. Eventually, the swastika-makers got bored and moved on. At one point, the American flag caught on fire; the fire was stamped out, and the Reddit employees cheered. “Feels like watching a football game in extreme slow motion,” one said. “Or like watching the election results.” “Oh, God, don’t say that.” Toward the end, the square was a dense, colorful tapestry, chaotic and strangely captivating. It was a collage of hundreds of incongruous images: logos of colleges, sports teams, bands, and video-game companies; a transcribed monologue from “Star Wars”; likenesses of He-Man, David Bowie, the “Mona Lisa,” and a former Prime Minister of Finland. In the final hours, shortly before the experiment ended and the image was frozen for posterity, BlackVoid launched a surprise attack on the American flag. A dark fissure tore at the bottom of the flag, then overtook the whole thing. For a few minutes, the center was engulfed in darkness. Then a broad coalition rallied to beat back the Void; the stars and stripes regained their form, and, in the end, the flag was still there. The final image contained no visible hate symbols, no violent threats, not even much nudity. Late in the day, Wardle emerged from hiding, poured himself a drink, and pushed back his hood. “It’s possible that I will be able to sleep tonight,” he said."