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drpvn t1_iy9lfx5 wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Weekly Crime Thread - Week of November 29, 2022 by AutoModerator

Agree the rule needs to be better articulated but this isn’t it.

> A guideline is, is mainstream, reputable news (e.g. NYT, WSJ, etc) covering it,

Lol if you mean “don’t allow Post stories” just say it.

> and/or is it part of a multi-day news cycle.

So we get posts about the same crime over and over because they keep appearing in the news?

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k1lk1 t1_iy9nqyt wrote

So propose a better rule. We can shit on ideas all day. Allow me the chance to poke holes in yours.

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drpvn t1_iy9o73a wrote

I’m not sure there should be a rule in the first place.

Edit: I would think the trick is to separate quotidian crime reports that are essentially one-off events from stories that are more significant. So the buckets could be:

>Rule: articles whose main subject matter is the commission of specific crimes should be posted in the crime thread.

>Exceptions:

>* articles about corruption by public officials.

>* “meta-crime” articles about responses to specific crimes. For example, statements by politicians in response to specific crimes. Or analysis/discussion of crime trends.

>* articles about crimes that are of extraordinary significance to the city as a whole. For example, the attempted subway mass-shooter. Or a story about a terrorist attack or an attempted terrorist attack. This exception would require the judicious use of mod discretion.

>Possibly other exceptions.

One concern is the constant tug of war here between habitual crime-posters and habitual “fuck the police” posters. If posts about crime are banned because they give the impression that the city is a hellhole, it would be a shame if the sub continues to get spammed with stories about alleged police misconduct. This isn’t to say that police misconduct doesn’t happen. But crime happens, too. And allowing anti-police posts while banning crime posts seems like putting a thumb on the scale of an ongoing debate about policing and public safety. But that may be unavoidable if we’re banning crime posts.

Just some off the cuff thoughts.

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EdgeOrnery6679 t1_iybj43n wrote

The mods do have a bias for threads that make the city look good. People post stuff like "I got scammed" and "i got harassed on the subway" and the posts get removed, but then you get "I love your city" and the thread stays.

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[deleted] t1_iya6fsc wrote

[deleted]

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drpvn t1_iya86rx wrote

I would ban all those—Pazienza, Duck Sauce, Michelle Go, Majors—because they were all one-off crimes and weren’t mass attacks. I don’t like the idea of mods deciding that crimes are important because of the race of the attacker or the victim. Too much discretion there and it would yield too many inconsistent results that would undermine confidence that the rule is being applied fairly. One rule for all stories reporting on specific crimes unless there are truly extraordinary circumstances that make it an issue for the whole city.

I don’t like a rule that privileges certain sources over other sources. Too many arguments about what’s reputable and what isn’t.

Those are my views anyway. And I still don’t know if it makes sense to cordon off crime posts in the first place.

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Grass8989 t1_iyajmqp wrote

This is probably the most reasonable argument for not banning crime posts.

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