I've been thinking about how best to write down all the thoughts I've had as a casual observer of KF. Well... I'm just gonna get right to the point of it all quickly. I don't think the focus of this site is a good idea at all. Now just stop right there. I hear you typing on your keys furiously already. First of all, I DO NOT THINK THAT KF SHOULD SHUT DOWN AT ALL. I ALSO DO NOT WISH IT TO BE CENSORED IN ANY WAY. Okay, now that we got that out of the way, we can talk about why I would make such a statement here.
Let's be quite honest here. This site has been created to point out and directly ridicule people on the internet, whether justly or otherwise. But there is also a little something more to the site as well. There is a focus on free speech as an ideal. More on that later. So, if I'm reading all this correctly, users will find certain people or groups and compile a list of things that they feel are detestable and/or utterly ridiculous. They will then post this information for others to see and post about. Such details can include many many things including the subject's real life name, location, family members, age, and of course, any active social media usernames.
To be blunt, I believe that such things are below you all. I think that KF can be better than this. And I'm not even necessarily talking about morals or donating to charities here. I wish to talk about something much larger and more important. This is not a little site, and if I'm judging things correctly, you guys are growing everyday. I think that pointing and laughing at others is a waste of your guys' valuable time and resources. Let me expand on this with a couple points.
1. On the internet, attention is power. Now, obviously negative attention is bad, but even that be leveraged if you're smart enough. My point is that by giving these "lolcows" attention, you unconsciously give them power. You know how Anita Sarkeesian got a seat at the UN? We gave it to her. Everyone that went on the offensive just gave her ammo. Love her or hate her, she knew how to be the victim and to use that.
2. A constant focus on negativity and drama can eat into a community. You may argue that KF has survived this long, so this point is null and void, but I would argue that KF has survived DESPITE such things. All this enmity flying around can cause discord, but as a wise person in a red and black striped shirt said, enmity sells. And there certainly is more and more of that going around these days. As you guys continue to focus on these negative horrible and/or cringy things, it will affect the general attitude of the community. I've seen this first-hand and it was quite ugly. Guys, I am asking you, please do not fall into this same trap.
3. Mob rule is not a pretty thing. It's comforting to point at someone or a group and say, "There, that's the bad guy(s)." but the real unpleasant truth is that life is rarely that simple. Now, there is a time for revolting and defense, but going on the offensive like this constantly and unceasingly is not it. And not just that, it can be downright hypocritical. Everyone here has something to hide. Every single person. Now, if they've broken a serious law, that's different. Things need to be investigated by good authorities, but that's another topic that I won't get into here. When it just comes to what people say. Their beliefs. What they like and dislike, I hardly think it's fair to judge them and ridicule them based only on one perspective. And even if the perspective is right, the backlash the person receives is often quite out of proportion with what they've done.
Now I did mention that this site could be better. That it could be doing something more important. I STRONGLY believe that KF should drop its original purpose and instead focus whole-hog on freedom of speech. I don't know if anyone here will remember this at all, but there was once a site called TOTSE (Temple of the Screaming Electron). It focused on freedom of speech and freedom of information. It operated for 20 years straight and acted as a safe harbor to all as long as they followed a reasonable set of rules. The site was responsible for all sorts of great things that are sadly missing today in one part or another, and actually, many parallels can be drawn between TOTSE and KF.
And that's why I suggest such a thing. You guys have probably noticed already, but the amount of major sites that are censoring content is becoming worse and worse every day. Even the users take part in this with upvote/downvote systems that are INCREDIBLY vulnerable to Tyranny of the Majority. KF could be an oasis in the midst of this shit storm. I think this is already happening a little bit.
Now, having said all that, I don't really expect KF to change overnight because of one rando person's topic and I have no idea just how receptive people here will even be to any of what I have to say, especially since I'm a completely new member here, but having said that, looking at some other threads reveals that people here are not absolutely exceptional and are willing to have a civil conversation about things, so I'm going to put this thread out there and hope for the best, but expect the worst.
