The answer is to talk about it. We live in an ugly world. There will be ugly speech related to that ugly.<p>While it's tempting to push all that to the side, doing so works like Disneyland does. It's a facade, unreal.<p>Do this enough and denial will bump up against reality.<p>That is often more ugly than that which got suppressed.<p>I won't defend the substance or lack of it until this speech. No need.<p>However, those who believe they have answers, or better, need to take it right to the people, or they are actually doing more harm than good.<p>This is about norms. Those who do speak contribute very strongly to norms. Get it yet?<p>When we respond with law, due to speech issues, we start a cycle of bad law, or egregious law and that will be checked by an increase in people acting out.<p>Norms have almost as much strength in regulating our behavior as laws do. Ignore them at our mutual peril.
First of all, the very idea of a "front page of the Internet" is just silly. The Internet doesn't work like that - it's not a magazine.<p>Furthermore, nothing is being "drowned out". People who want meaty, insightful discussion about events will find it, and people who want to engage in internal-reddit-drama will find that.<p>If there's a problem, it's the ratio of people who want meaty, insightful discussion on important events, to people who prefer to engage in meta navel-gazing / internal-reddit-drama / etc. And honestly, I have no idea how to change that.
This has just been increasing over the years. They are quickly reaching their 'Digg moment' and users are seeking a non-extreme alternative. Unfortunately the early alt-reddits caught all the fph and /b/ teir posters reddit pushed out early (looking at you Voat) and have a terrible reputation thanks in part to being more free. Its a bit of a catch-22, and a HUGE opprotunity for the right players to move in.
Full disclosure:<p>I am moderating a sub that is not doing message control with removals and banning.<p>Norms are used instead. It's effective, and the stronger user community results in far fewer moderation activities being required.<p>Pressure to confirm runs high. Users are seeking a real dialog, not some sanitized, Disneyland thing.<p>The escalation of internal drama is a clear artifact of the wrong tools being used for a necessary job.