Post AxWhnG7WIzVVpZGKjw by clarablackink@writing.exchange
(DIR) More posts by clarablackink@writing.exchange
(DIR) Post #AxWdbiaAG6pqoQtzG4 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T10:31:12Z
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This story has been bubbling on the side for some time it involves a lot of complex topics. The best run-down I've seen is from "Legal Eagle"But I'm just glad that Ro Khanna is taking it seriously. Because most people are just rolling their eyes because ... well it's *roblox*For young people following this issue it's very important and they are deeply upset and legitimately in many ways. It sounds like a circus of an issue but I think ignoring it could be a mistake.
(DIR) Post #AxWdoOhnTJy4viWBHM by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T10:33:32Z
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That said. Where does this all end? Very little about Roblox makes it sound like the kind of place where young people can be safe and have fun online. I've brought this up before, but for all of the laws passed to "protect children" and all of the energy spent talking about online safety no one seems sincerely invested in making healthy online spaces. I think that's because the only way to do that is with *human* moderation.
(DIR) Post #AxWe2s7gtWf8DmX1fs by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T10:36:09Z
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Is the user-made Roblox game "too sexual" for teens? Was a user being exploitative? These aren't things you can solve with an automated filter or AI. It takes real time and attention of adults who can make level headed calls about where the line is in each case. It also takes effort spent to model good community norms. Instead a lot of young people have been left unsupervised in a fake online casino where "success" is earning a fake currency by making shock content.
(DIR) Post #AxWeF4v78nOlNzTAfY by ephesossh@mastodon.online
2025-08-25T10:38:19Z
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@futurebird oh no what's exploding with roblox now? The endless churn of microtransactions?The unsustainable cycle of milking underage devs for the next slop hit?The total lack of functional moderation that lets the worst people run around unchecked? People Make Games have done some really good journalism on those points, but I would believe it if a brand new horror has emerged on every parent's least favorite FNAF Clone Marketplace.
(DIR) Post #AxWeZ0QhXvTrFakKrg by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T10:41:57Z
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@ephesossh Basically a young man, who grew up using roblox was frustrated because there are a LOT of people joking about being child predators on there as well as actual child predators. The joking 4chan like atmosphere enables these things by making it totally unclear to a child what is "normal" It would be easy for a child to think that such things are edgy and cool and some kids have been lured, hurt in real life. So this young man starts running pedo stings. To catch the people doing it.
(DIR) Post #AxWemzvWDGHtkEpglk by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T10:44:29Z
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@ephesossh Of course such stings are touchy things, and roblox hates it. They ban him and all of this kids fans ... who see him as the only person who cares about the problem (and they might be right about that) are furious. This is what I mean about it being messy. Another messy ugly online space is kick. It's wild to me that tiktok gets attention but kick, roblox are just somehow fine.And roblox is worse because it's "made for kids" which means that parents let their guard down more.
(DIR) Post #AxWf0h2zCfipFFr8mO by ephesossh@mastodon.online
2025-08-25T10:46:56Z
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@futurebird on the one hand, I applaud this young proto-Batman, but yes it's criminal that the situation came to that at all. I constantly warn other parents, set a hard boundary with your kids about that garbage platform. Nothing good comes from it, unless you're a stockholder.
(DIR) Post #AxWf9Lp3UAee1YT67U by toni@zug.network
2025-08-25T10:48:28Z
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@futurebird @ephesossh There’s also some state government threatening things(?), which made them change some rules. Not really anything new going on, just back in the news.Imo it’s the same story that’s been around since the internet has been around. Yes, there are predators in spaces where children are. Parents and schools need to talk to their children, so they know how to deal with the situation. They probably won’t ever meet one of the predators.I’m 43 and I remember being warned against predators on IRC and other chat rooms.
(DIR) Post #AxWflZSfE0xLKQDgG0 by clarablackink@writing.exchange
2025-08-25T10:55:23Z
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@futurebird The way you describe it made something click for me that hadn't before...There's this whole mythos around Gen X as latchkey kids who ferally roamed their world. That's been online spaces for those that came after for a number of reasons.But, the problem is the same as it was then in terms of people who are supposed to be responsible for children being too overworked or too unengaged and offloading kids into environments they play in and others exploit them in.
(DIR) Post #AxWfpEkaAbAWFjLhCa by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T10:56:06Z
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@ephesossh It makes me really sad because the internet can be a magical fun place for young people. And it is understandable that kids would be excited to make games for each other and have a popular game that thousands of people play and talk about. Or even just be on the leader board as the winner of some online gaming contest. But the space is under-moderated so of course some of these young people have tried to fix it by doing the moderation themselves.
(DIR) Post #AxWfyMdkCo0RKQVE7k by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T10:57:45Z
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@ephesossh Then there is the role of discord in making some of these problems worse. I shudder to think about what is happening in secret discords at any moment. The privacy of these online spaces can make them very dangerous.
(DIR) Post #AxWgbarfFkC0jrigT2 by ephesossh@mastodon.online
2025-08-25T11:04:48Z
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@futurebird the privacy can also make them safe havens, but yeah without meaningful safety tools/procedures the risks are significant. I should check back in on Neopets and see if they've made progress on their promised renaissance. That was the OG for chill and reasonably safe online spaces in my book, at least before the whole scientology thing.
(DIR) Post #AxWghGE8tZjOTDw5jc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T11:05:49Z
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@Rachel_Thorn The influence of this platform is massive. It's hard to say anything about the content since it changes quickly and is a kind of free-for all ... and use-created which the owners hide behind to avoid really screening or moderating much at all. But more than moderation to ban words or guns or whatever, the way it's all monetized incentivizes making games that are edgy to get people on your game and earn robucks. And then there are the ads.
(DIR) Post #AxWhDSBfxlkKpa8J0K by clarablackink@writing.exchange
2025-08-25T11:05:04Z
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@remote_orb @futurebird I think most of the kids that are successfully targeted tend to lack this type of parenting.You shouldn't have to watch them all the time or control their behavior. This issue is bigger than individual parenting. We need real communities and accountability for companies (and individual bad actors).Instead you're mostly abandoned to whatever you as a parent can muster for the duration of your time as one. And, it shouldn't be that way.
(DIR) Post #AxWhDTS1GUPikYms7M by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T11:11:38Z
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@clarablackink @remote_orb There is a kind of predator who knows that a space where kids are encouraged to push boundaries and make edgy jokes (and keep secrets from adults) works totally to their advantage. They look for lonely kids who don't have adults in their life to listen to them and take them seriously. They play that role and then ...It's nothing new. It's just a new forum. But it is possible to make it harder for such people. And it's possible to catch them.
(DIR) Post #AxWhnG7WIzVVpZGKjw by clarablackink@writing.exchange
2025-08-25T11:18:06Z
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@futurebird @remote_orb "But it is possible to make it harder for such people. And it's possible to catch them."This.I hate that bad actors frame these issues to make kids look annoying or make parents feel more guilty when they aren't the real problem.Predators are the issue. We have and can build environments that don't enable predatory behavior.
(DIR) Post #AxWiwGrozw8ShumT3o by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T11:30:55Z
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@bri_seven I have this crazy notion that managing online spaces should be something kids do in school just like school newspapers and school bake sales. It would mean intentionally creating safe and fun opportunities for young people to learn about how to participate and manage this kind of communication. Just like with face to face communication.Instead school newspapers are dying with many other extra curricular activities. Because it means investing in human intelligence.
(DIR) Post #AxWjJSrAaU34YJXFgm by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T11:35:10Z
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@bri_seven The young people who are best equipped to be safe online are also those equipped to be safe offline. And to some degree this is becoming an issue of class which is very depressing.The less money you have the more your life is saturated with ads, full of compromises and to have some fun playing a game you risk getting a computer virus, identity theft or your kids could get exposed to professional creeps.Roblox thrives because it's cheap and for some the only option.
(DIR) Post #AxWk34kCZKp55e1cS8 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T11:43:22Z
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@bri_seven When I go on someone else's computer or phone that doesn't have all of the ad blockers and filters that I use I'm shocked at the pit of trash I find myself in. The internet is hardly usable at all. Tech savvy, people, and people with some moderate disposable income have walled ourselvfs off from the pit. And some people pretend like if people "were just more educated" they could install Debian or whatever and get out but it's not that simple. It's not that simple at all.
(DIR) Post #AxWltvD6qUWep8JF0y by InkySchwartz@mastodon.social
2025-08-25T12:04:06Z
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@futurebird @bri_seven All of this. I would love to swap my phone's OS but I'm a lowly mid level android user and there is little there for me.I mean there is stuff one can use for free to deal with adware and some other stuff but you get more by spending money.
(DIR) Post #AxWsbgZjDfrRts8mW0 by mavu@mastodon.social
2025-08-25T13:19:13Z
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@futurebird "These aren't things you can solve with an automated filter or AI. It takes real time and attention of adults who can make level headed calls"Add to that, that it's not even clearly universal. In Europe a topless woman in a non-sexual setting would not be put in the same category as in the US, or Dubai.
(DIR) Post #AxWtNexeWY64nICshU by JessTheUnstill@infosec.exchange
2025-08-25T13:27:53Z
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I wonder if all the bullshit "age verification" laws apply to shit like Roblox too...@futurebird @ephesossh
(DIR) Post #AxXCdkF8YGCCwElhoG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-25T17:03:47Z
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@JessTheUnstill @ephesossh Honestly? I don't think it's doing much of anything. I don't think it's a good way to address these issues at all because what is need is human moderation. Things like very *responsive* chat-lines and reporting tools.
(DIR) Post #AxXDhAm0TAUc2jLE9o by ephesossh@mastodon.online
2025-08-25T17:15:35Z
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@futurebird @JessTheUnstill all the age verification laws do is shut down companies who can't afford to comply. The giants can either do it easily, or have the heft to ignore it.Circumventing them is usually easy. Sometimes hilariously so: https://mashable.com/article/discord-uk-age-verification-death-stranding-hack
(DIR) Post #AxYGTiuXFCCqswZKvQ by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-26T05:21:29Z
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@secretsloth I think people think moderation is this kind of silly trivial thing but the way people get so upset and emotional about being banned or even getting a warning in the most pointless online spaces is amazing. Because it's social too. And people are social creatures. It matters to most people (even many bad actors) to feel like they are "part of" it all.
(DIR) Post #AxYGk3MWyPuewpRz3w by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-08-26T05:24:27Z
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@secretsloth The ideal mod has too much time on their hands, is a bit of a nerd about the space they are modding, cares about the space and the rules being consistent over most other things... but ALSO doesn't want to be important and says "no" when you ask them the first time.
(DIR) Post #AxYJB13Lrq7TVqSpf6 by EverydayMoggie@sfba.social
2025-08-26T05:51:40Z
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Moderation on larger platforms probably needs to be a profession, instead of being done almost exclusively by unpaid volunteers.@futurebird @secretsloth
(DIR) Post #AxYJslKTgnF3UJKnsO by kristinHenry@vis.social
2025-08-26T05:59:35Z
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@futurebird @secretsloth Yes!