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Turn up the internet dial to silence trolls and bores
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colwyn
Apr 14, 2018, 7:49:29 AM4/14/18
to
Turn up the internet dial to silence trolls and bores
Tom Whipple, Science Editor
April 14 2018, 12:01am,
The Times
John Nimmo, left, and Paul Hardaker were jailed for hate comments online
What would it be like if you could flick a single switch and need never
read the word “remoaner” again? Or turn a dial and “Tony Bliar”,
“libtard” and “methinks” disappear too? Turn it higher still, and you
find that the internet becomes a place for actually discussing ideas
rather than flinging insults. Impossible?
That is the dream of a few computer scientists who have dared to imagine
a better internet. They think that it is not inevitable that we must
descend into a discordant babel of anger and outrage.
Along with psychologists who have studied the phenomenon of internet
trolling they want to re-engineer the way we interact to create a space
where people behave as they would in a world where common courtesy still
existed. Or, at the very least, in a world where the fear of getting
punched in the face for being egregiously rude still existed.
The simplest way is to take away the ability of trolls to troll.
Perspective, a company founded by Google, has set about achieving this
by teaching a computer to spot when comments are unpleasant, and then
remove them.
“Imagine trying to have a conversation with your friends about the news
you read this morning, but every time you said something, someone
shouted in your face, called you a nasty name or accused you of some
awful crime,” said Jared Cohen, president of Alphabet, Google’s parent
company. “You’d probably leave the conversation.”
No human can moderate all comments, but a computer can. The company has
developed an algorithm that learns, with the help of humans, to
automatically rate comments and assigning each a toxicity score. Some
sites could say they are happy with a toxicity of 0.7, others of 0.9.
They have applied it to discussions about Brexit. Set it to a minimum
level, and you remove comments calling Brexit supporters “ignorant and
stupid” and Remain supporters “anti-democratic arseholes”. Put it
halfway and you remove a comment calling remainers “left-wing wimps”,
and another calling Brexiteers “racists”. On the highest level you have
a fine dusting of intelligent comments from both sides.
Robin Dunbar, from Oxford University, thinks the key to civility is
precisely that “face-to-face” aspect. “My sense is that there is just
something about seeing the whites of people’s eyes, or more importantly
their facial expressions in response to what we are saying, that just
holds everything in check,” he said.
We know what the typical troll is like. He (yes, it is more likely to be
a he) is low in empathy and high in psychopathy. He is more likely to
agree with statements such as “payback needs to be quick and nasty” and
“I find it hard to know what to do in a social situation”. He is less
likely to agree with statements such as, “I get upset if I see people
suffering on news programmes”.
They are not a group apart, however. Many of us can become a troll too.
US research has shown that the likelihood of trolling depends on
context, on time of day, day of the week and, crucially, the politeness
of others.
So can a crude tool like a toxicity filter be enough? We know that human
beings can be polite, because in most social circumstances we are. The
question is how to re-engineer an online world where humans can be
rewarded for politeness rather than shoutiness.
Psychologists would argue that blocking unpleasant discourse, as
Perspective plans, is not just hiding the problem. It is about
disempowering the behaviour, leaving the trolls to shout into a void,
because when a troll goes unread he or she is a troll no more, just a
silenced voice in a lonely bedroom.
Tom Whipple, Science Editor
April 14 2018, 12:01am,
The Times
John Nimmo, left, and Paul Hardaker were jailed for hate comments online
What would it be like if you could flick a single switch and need never
read the word “remoaner” again? Or turn a dial and “Tony Bliar”,
“libtard” and “methinks” disappear too? Turn it higher still, and you
find that the internet becomes a place for actually discussing ideas
rather than flinging insults. Impossible?
That is the dream of a few computer scientists who have dared to imagine
a better internet. They think that it is not inevitable that we must
descend into a discordant babel of anger and outrage.
Along with psychologists who have studied the phenomenon of internet
trolling they want to re-engineer the way we interact to create a space
where people behave as they would in a world where common courtesy still
existed. Or, at the very least, in a world where the fear of getting
punched in the face for being egregiously rude still existed.
The simplest way is to take away the ability of trolls to troll.
Perspective, a company founded by Google, has set about achieving this
by teaching a computer to spot when comments are unpleasant, and then
remove them.
“Imagine trying to have a conversation with your friends about the news
you read this morning, but every time you said something, someone
shouted in your face, called you a nasty name or accused you of some
awful crime,” said Jared Cohen, president of Alphabet, Google’s parent
company. “You’d probably leave the conversation.”
No human can moderate all comments, but a computer can. The company has
developed an algorithm that learns, with the help of humans, to
automatically rate comments and assigning each a toxicity score. Some
sites could say they are happy with a toxicity of 0.7, others of 0.9.
They have applied it to discussions about Brexit. Set it to a minimum
level, and you remove comments calling Brexit supporters “ignorant and
stupid” and Remain supporters “anti-democratic arseholes”. Put it
halfway and you remove a comment calling remainers “left-wing wimps”,
and another calling Brexiteers “racists”. On the highest level you have
a fine dusting of intelligent comments from both sides.
Robin Dunbar, from Oxford University, thinks the key to civility is
precisely that “face-to-face” aspect. “My sense is that there is just
something about seeing the whites of people’s eyes, or more importantly
their facial expressions in response to what we are saying, that just
holds everything in check,” he said.
We know what the typical troll is like. He (yes, it is more likely to be
a he) is low in empathy and high in psychopathy. He is more likely to
agree with statements such as “payback needs to be quick and nasty” and
“I find it hard to know what to do in a social situation”. He is less
likely to agree with statements such as, “I get upset if I see people
suffering on news programmes”.
They are not a group apart, however. Many of us can become a troll too.
US research has shown that the likelihood of trolling depends on
context, on time of day, day of the week and, crucially, the politeness
of others.
So can a crude tool like a toxicity filter be enough? We know that human
beings can be polite, because in most social circumstances we are. The
question is how to re-engineer an online world where humans can be
rewarded for politeness rather than shoutiness.
Psychologists would argue that blocking unpleasant discourse, as
Perspective plans, is not just hiding the problem. It is about
disempowering the behaviour, leaving the trolls to shout into a void,
because when a troll goes unread he or she is a troll no more, just a
silenced voice in a lonely bedroom.
JNugent
Apr 14, 2018, 8:29:28 AM4/14/18
to
is so bad about "methinks"?
I would never use such an outdated form (except perhaps for effect or
reference), but using it is hardly a crime.
Rob Morley
Apr 14, 2018, 10:30:46 AM4/14/18
to
On Sat, 14 Apr 2018 12:49:27 +0100
colwyn <gudd...@btinternet.invalid> wrote:
> So can a crude tool like a toxicity filter be enough?
A simple killfile works in here - I don't much bother with web fora.
colwyn <gudd...@btinternet.invalid> wrote:
> So can a crude tool like a toxicity filter be enough?
MrCheerful
Apr 14, 2018, 3:15:44 PM4/14/18
to
On 14/04/2018 12:49, colwyn wrote:
> Turn up the internet dial to silence trolls and bores
>
> Tom Whipple, Science Editor
> April 14 2018, 12:01am,
> The Times
>
> John Nimmo, left, and Paul Hardaker were jailed for hate comments online
>
> What would it be like if you could flick a single switch and need never
> read the word “remoaner” again? Or turn a dial and “Tony Bliar”,
> “libtard” and “methinks” disappear too? Turn it higher still, and you
snip
>
> Tom Whipple, Science Editor
> April 14 2018, 12:01am,
> The Times
>
> John Nimmo, left, and Paul Hardaker were jailed for hate comments online
>
> What would it be like if you could flick a single switch and need never
> read the word “remoaner” again? Or turn a dial and “Tony Bliar”,
> “libtard” and “methinks” disappear too? Turn it higher still, and you
> Perspective, a company founded by Google, has set about achieving this
> by teaching a computer to spot when comments are unpleasant, and then
> remove them.
>
This is rather old news. And SFA to do with UK cycling.
> by teaching a computer to spot when comments are unpleasant, and then
> remove them.
>
Bret Cahill
Apr 14, 2018, 6:46:40 PM4/14/18
to
This isn't so much a filter as just sticking the head into sand.
Sometimes sticking the head into sand makes sense, i.e., ear plugs that are normally open but close when the traffic noise exceeds 85 dB. This isn't a filter as it attenuates everything at that moment but at least musician - cyclists can save their hearing.
Bret Cahill
Sometimes sticking the head into sand makes sense, i.e., ear plugs that are normally open but close when the traffic noise exceeds 85 dB. This isn't a filter as it attenuates everything at that moment but at least musician - cyclists can save their hearing.
Bret Cahill
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