Posted on Jul 5, 2017
How CNN found the Reddit user behind the Trump wrestling GIF
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The interesting bit about this story isn't about the video where the POTUS gives a smackdown to CNN. I find that more humorous than anything and claims of it promoting violence overblown.
The interesting bit is the tracking down of the Reddit user and in the face of exposure him offering a mea culpa to avoid that. People think that are anonymous on the web and post all kinds of things they wouldn't say in person, thinking they are anonymous. They are not. For most people posting anonymously, if someone wants to figure out who they are, they likely can.
What this guy was facing was a post that had gotten out of his control. Having something go viral is a two edged sword. It's great that people seem to like what you had to say but if people also object to what you say and find out who you are your life as you know it is over. This guy may have been fired and certainly would have been harassed if his name became known. I don't agree with that type of mob justice either, but it is our current reality.
One thing I always keep in mind when posting is to apply the courtroom test to my posts. Would I be comfortable reading my posts in a court of law. It the answer is no, I don't post it. As this illustrates, you are not probably not as anonymous as you think you are unless you really know what you are doing.
Edit to Add: There has been some confusion about what I'm trying to convey with this post. This isn't so much about this particular case. Things like this happen all the time. This is about the dangerous nature of public internet shaming. Thinking anonymity will protect you from that is a dangerous and in most cases wrong assumption. If anyone is interested in the topic of this type of shaming and why it is so damaging I read a great book on it, "So You've Been Publicly Shamed". I highly recommend it. Here is an Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ [login to see] /?tag=slatmaga-20
The interesting bit is the tracking down of the Reddit user and in the face of exposure him offering a mea culpa to avoid that. People think that are anonymous on the web and post all kinds of things they wouldn't say in person, thinking they are anonymous. They are not. For most people posting anonymously, if someone wants to figure out who they are, they likely can.
What this guy was facing was a post that had gotten out of his control. Having something go viral is a two edged sword. It's great that people seem to like what you had to say but if people also object to what you say and find out who you are your life as you know it is over. This guy may have been fired and certainly would have been harassed if his name became known. I don't agree with that type of mob justice either, but it is our current reality.
One thing I always keep in mind when posting is to apply the courtroom test to my posts. Would I be comfortable reading my posts in a court of law. It the answer is no, I don't post it. As this illustrates, you are not probably not as anonymous as you think you are unless you really know what you are doing.
Edit to Add: There has been some confusion about what I'm trying to convey with this post. This isn't so much about this particular case. Things like this happen all the time. This is about the dangerous nature of public internet shaming. Thinking anonymity will protect you from that is a dangerous and in most cases wrong assumption. If anyone is interested in the topic of this type of shaming and why it is so damaging I read a great book on it, "So You've Been Publicly Shamed". I highly recommend it. Here is an Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ [login to see] /?tag=slatmaga-20
How CNN found the Reddit user behind the Trump wrestling GIF
Posted from cnn.com
Social Media
CNN
Office of the President (POTUS)
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 6
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Well does it come down to black mail by CNN? Doxing ( exposing someone's identity) is prohibited by REDDIT. Seems a lot of folks on twitter think so, CNN IS telling the individual they will not publish his name if he doesn't offend CNN is a form of blackmail. Seems this issue has inflamed both the left and right political spectrum against CNN. It appears CNN stepped in dog poop and is now licking the shoe to insure it really is dog poop. One of the funny tweets was " CNN can find the Reddit guy but not the person who gave Brazile the debate questions".
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SPC Kevin Ford
LTC David Brown Reddit is an independent entity with it's own board, CEO and shareholders. The largest shareholder is Advance Publications. Advance Publications also owns a 13% stake in Charter who in turn own Time Warner. At best that relationship is pretty tenuous and certainly wouldn't bind one independent entity to the policies of another in any legal or moral fashion. The only bridge is through Advance Publications shareholdings indirectly of both entities and they are far from an ownership stake in Charter.
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LTC David Brown
Thank you. I took as truth what I read on the internet. If it's on the internet it has to be true correct?
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LTC Trent Klug
The REDDIT guy was much more important than finding out who gave Donna Brazile the debate questions. REDDIT guy made them the butt of a joke. CNN is just democrats with bylines, so is the person who gave up the debate questions. Brazile, and the target of her largesse, Clinton, are of the same political party. So the person in question doesn't need to be found.
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Someone should have used the rest of the match, it went different then the gif itself
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So it seems to me that the Media can dish it out but can't take it. When a large company like CNN and their parent company Time Warner sees fit to go after an ordinary american citizen over some stupid internet meme a warning bell should go off in everyone's head. The stupid thing did not negatively impact CNN's business. It was more humorous and stupid than inciting violence against CNN. I think CNN's reaction to it makes them look worse than the stupid video did. The corporate media is trampling on the freedom of speech of ordinary americans! I don't have fear the my government will trample on my freedom of speech. I fear that ultra leftists in the media will.
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SPC Kevin Ford
MSgt (Join to see) I agree that this is a big corporation going after a little guy and is a bit unseemly.
I can't follow you to the tramping freedom of speech however. None of us have the freedom to engage in speech free of criticism or repercussions because other people have the freedom of speech too. If we say something our greater community finds abhorrent they will use their freedom of speech to pillory us. It has always been so but what you can get pilloried for has changed. in the 1950's if I said something in support of communism I could be fired and would be shunned but if I called someone the "n word" that would be OK but perhaps a bit distasteful. Today the opposite happens.
What has also changed is the number of people involved and how fast and wide it can spread, so the stakes when saying something have been raised and anonymity probably won't protect you. That isn't our freedom of speech being trampled. That's other people rejecting what we said and using their freedom of speech to do it. BTW, it is an awful bit of mob justice when it happens and it has always been so.
I can't follow you to the tramping freedom of speech however. None of us have the freedom to engage in speech free of criticism or repercussions because other people have the freedom of speech too. If we say something our greater community finds abhorrent they will use their freedom of speech to pillory us. It has always been so but what you can get pilloried for has changed. in the 1950's if I said something in support of communism I could be fired and would be shunned but if I called someone the "n word" that would be OK but perhaps a bit distasteful. Today the opposite happens.
What has also changed is the number of people involved and how fast and wide it can spread, so the stakes when saying something have been raised and anonymity probably won't protect you. That isn't our freedom of speech being trampled. That's other people rejecting what we said and using their freedom of speech to do it. BTW, it is an awful bit of mob justice when it happens and it has always been so.
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MSgt (Join to see)
But when a corporation is the one who decides what is "correct" to say and what isn't and uses their bully pulpit to shout down the litte guy and use their power to twist the meanings of others words it is more of a problem. I am all for grass roots boycotts of things that you don't agree with but when cnn uses its power and cyber stalks a guy who said something they didn't like and coerced him into apologizing that in my opinion is crossinng the line. What would happen if you said somethig negative on here about a company and they pulled that crap on you? I sure wouldn't appreciate it. I had heard a rumor ,not sure if it is true, that the guy in question was a teenage boy. If that part is true then cnn is even more in the wrong. Yes kids have to learn that the internet is not totally anonymous but major corporations shouldn't be teaching them that lesson.
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SPC Kevin Ford
MSgt (Join to see) - To be fair, I don't make any comments on here anonymously and anything I say here I stand behind with my real name. For me, people finding out who I really am and threatening to out me because I said some stuff I'd rather people not know I said isn't an issue.
For this particular guy, it wasn't really the CNN/Trump meme he was probably worried about. It was all the racist anti-Semitic cr@p he posted.
For this particular guy, it wasn't really the CNN/Trump meme he was probably worried about. It was all the racist anti-Semitic cr@p he posted.
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