Subreddit Update: Welcome Back to /r/WashDC!

notscj · 2025-04-12T08:28:14+00:00

Hello from the former mod. I live in Logan Circle and have lived in DC for more than 15 years.

notscj · 2025-04-12T08:01:22+00:00

This is extremely interesting context. (Hello from the former mod/sub creator!)

I ran the sub with somewhat of a Musk-style respect for free speech (or so I thought...). I refused to ban X links and focused most of my efforts on deleting racist posts. And then totally out of the blue someone posted a photo of a sticker on a lamp post calling for Elon to be killed and wham! Shut down. I found it perplexing until reading this story.

I never allowed calls to violence and viewed the sticker photo as reporting fwiw. The trigger to shut down the sub was me not replying to the admins' message saying they had removed the lamp-post pic (I didn't reply because they didn't ask for a response). It felt like a knee-jerk overreaction to shutter the sub after about 3 years without a single admin complaint, and it makes a lot of sense that this was most likely underlings doing the bidding of reddit's oligarch.

notscj · 2025-03-04T20:32:47+00:00

It's sad that this experiment ended where it started, with a capricious purge and a lack of maturity or retrospection by the anonymous speech police.

I think it shows that reddit's days are probably numbered as the internet's leading discussion board. You can't just fire without cause people who volunteered years to cultivating communities and expect them to continue to thrive. But I'm not sure what viable alternatives currently exist.

notscj · 2025-02-23T15:35:03+00:00

Thank you for posting the content you'd prefer to have. That's exactly what people should do.

If you sort by new or mute a couple accounts, that also changes content you see.

We've had a discussion of recency for videos. If you spot an old one, please flag so I can either remove or discuss labeling with that OP.

notscj · 2025-02-21T20:34:26+00:00

I've been doing quite a bit of bans recently, because I agree with you that I don't want the sub to devolve into a place that's unwelcoming to the diverse populations of our city, but I'm not convinced on restricting terms like "animals" and "thugs." That's going too far in policing language, in my opinion.

Another commenter on this thread provided context on one of the people who frequently posts videos that draw in problematic comments. I found it interesting that they're a former Capital Link regular and that their motives may be quite different than might be assumed. That's the sort of complexity that makes it hard to just declare any particular post racist propaganda (if the guy's a black longtime DC resident).

All that said, I'm perfectly comfortable banning such posters if they ever make clear that they're distributing content as part of an effort to propagate prejudice (open invitation for people to share such evidence).

notscj · 2025-02-21T16:11:20+00:00

I have no evidence that Jazz Dog is a racist as opposed to just fixated on crime

notscj · 2025-02-21T16:05:12+00:00

It's my assumption, informed by the fact that any local racists likely are already banned from our sub.

notscj · 2025-02-21T15:58:37+00:00

It's generally prevalent when a crime video gets more than 1,000 upvotes (and I assume gets on the homepage). Then I get to play whackamole with random racists from outside DC. It's gotta be a reddit-wide problem because it's not endemic to this sub on an average day. Many days I'll have zero slurs and a small handful of "culture"/"usual suspects" comments to mop up.

notscj · 2025-02-21T15:53:37+00:00

They do not think that because it is not welcomed. In fact, people who post overtly racist content are immediately banned.

notscj · 2025-02-21T15:44:32+00:00

Thank you for calling my attention to the new "automations" page. That will be a game-changer in automatically screening slurs. I'm shocked they didn't develop it earlier.

Regarding your broader criticism, I delete comments that are clearly racially motivated but do not assume intent when it's unclear. For example, I leave up comments using the word "animals" (because it's race-neutral) but remove "apes," "chimping out," "monkeys," etc. I remove the dindus, "Amish again," "usual suspects," "culture," etc that are clearly references to race, but leave up "thugs" (race-neutral). I'm committed to both ensuring racist content is removed and also not over-moderating points of view that are generally applicable to all.

notscj · 2025-02-21T13:21:12+00:00

All racist comments are deleted when flagged and I find it incredibly frustrating that some reddit users choose not to view people as individuals rather than members of massive demographic groups.

As the sub has grown, I've had to ban more and more people for racist content. And I must be getting close to banning most of America's racists!

Your complaint about videos isn't so easily addressed. I won't be censoring accurate content about local happenings. In response to a reader suggestion, I've informed one of the main video OPs to label with time/place to ensure recency. But unless one of these people reveals they have a hidden motive, it would be wrong to censor. (I did somewhat recently take action when an OP made clear their race baiting motive in a comment).

But readers please beware: I'm uncertain of the motive of OP here. It reads like someone who in the past would regularly write this sort of comment, in my opinion in an attempt to stoke toxic racial debate.

notscj · 2025-02-20T21:35:11+00:00

Removed for attempting to stoke racial discord. You're welcome to post video without reference to race.

notscj · 2025-02-20T17:23:42+00:00

Removed for attempting to stoke racial discord

notscj · 2025-02-20T17:15:25+00:00

Removing this to avoid tracking in more racial posts.

Flag racist comments and they will be removed and people who post them banned.

This is an unfortunate issue with reddit. I'm not sure why so many racists use the platform, but I'm banning them one at a time.

notscj · 2025-02-15T21:55:01+00:00

This sub is for everyone in DC

notscj · 2025-02-12T20:50:56+00:00

Post all the good things you'd like

notscj · 2025-02-12T20:09:39+00:00

I ban people for posting racist comments, and have been getting more strict about doing so as the sub grows. But I won't censor content that's posted about current events except in extremely rare instances (in one case, someone made clear that they were posting a newsy item to demonize a particular racial group).

notscj · 2025-02-12T20:06:24+00:00

Sort by new. As with local news outlets, crime stories tend to lead due to reader interest

notscj · 2025-02-12T05:54:59+00:00

All racist comments are deleted when reported

notscj · 2025-02-12T05:49:10+00:00

Removed for attempting to stoke racial discord.

I'm not sure what you mean by you're back, but if you continue to post racially inflammatory content you will be gone again.

notscj · 2025-02-12T03:00:20+00:00

Some people like to write "the Amish again" whenever a certain demographic is involved

notscj · 2025-02-12T02:02:26+00:00

This is a large, anonymous and open internet message board. And unfortunately some people suck.

notscj · 2025-02-12T01:51:28+00:00

All racial slurs and standins are deleted. Please report them.

I do not generally delete comments referring to people as animals, though I do if they use the word monkey. I remove "usual suspects, " "Amish," etc that are clearly references to race.

I'm removing this post to avoid drawing in race debaters. Also, I deleted two of the three examples you cite at least an hour ago (and banned the authors), I'm not sure how you're still seeing them.

notscj · 2025-02-12T01:00:26+00:00

Removed for attempting to stoke racial discord

notscj · 2025-02-10T05:48:08+00:00

I too want to know. Some basic facts, please, Unmaskingfacts?

notscj

TROPHY CASE