[AssuredlyANewsAgency] Reddit Admins have begun to actively change the content of user comments; one comment was changed by the admins from "fuck /u/spez" to "fuck /u/[moderator of /r/thedonald]". Reddit admins have never engaged in server side manipulation of user comments before this action today.

231  2016-11-24 by AssuredlyAThrowAway

AssuredlyANewsAgency can report breaking news this evening, as, for the first time in the site's history, the owners of reddit.com have utilized their server side control of messages displayed on the website to alter user comments.

Perhaps even more shocking, the majority of the server-side manipulated comments seemed to be critical of reddit ceo Steve Huffman (who goes by the moniker 'spez' on the popular news aggregate); evidence presented to staffers at this agency indicates that one of the original comments had stated, quite bluntly, "Fuck /u/spez". However, that comment by user /u/w0rdd now reads "Fuck /u/ "moderator of the donald"."

This unprecedented manipulation of user comments brings into question the legitimacy of every text submission and comment that exists on reddit, as the use of such server side editing to veil criticism of one of their own employees seems to stand in stark contrast to reddit's proclaimed designation (by Chairman of the Board, Alexis Ohanian no less) as the "Last bastion of free speech on the internet". It also seems to stand contrary to the long held policy that reddit users are given exclusive authority over the content of their submissions to the platform.

As more and more of reddit's core ideological platforms begin to fall by the way side, and the functional integrity of the platform continues to be brought into question, many are wondering just how long reddit can survive this continued barrage of admin-instigated catastrophes. While the company has weathered more than its fair share of storms over the years, there is little room left for mistakes in the highly competitive arena of social news amalgamation. With previous reddit employees seemingly popping up out of the wood-work to open their own competitors (with imzy being but one example), reddit seemingly sits perched precariously beneath a broad sward held by only a thin thread.

This story has ramifications far beyond the initial use of this tactic by the admins to silent dissent, and staffers of AANA will follow updates closely.

[UPDATE 7:26 PM EST]; It has been revealed that the edited comments were linked to by a Washington Post article that came out at the same precise moment that the comments were edited by the reddit admins on the server side; this itself has terrifying implications, as it means the reddit admins manipulated user comments, contacted a press outlet, and intentionally lead that outlet to believe those manipulated comments were in fact genuine user contributions

[UPDATE 7:27PM EST] A comment from reddit ceo /u/spez;

Hey Everyone,

Yep. I messed with the “fuck u/spez ” comments. It’s been a long week here trying to unwind the r/pizzagate stuff. As much as we try to maintain a good relationship with you all, it does get old getting called a pedophile constantly. As the CEO, I shouldn’t play such games, and it’s all fixed now. Our community team is pretty pissed at me, so I most assuredly won’t do this again.

Fuck u/spez .

Spez's statement does not resolve the standing matter of how the Washington Post was, somehow, given a link to the edited version of the comments. Staffers from AANA will attempt to follow up with Mr. Huffman regarding the matter.

63 comments

19  nottheoretical 2016-11-24

Next scandal: Redditgate. Don't worry, reddit. we won't forget about you.

8  GaslightCoffee 2016-11-24

Edditgate.

5  stonerstevethrow 2016-11-24

/r/edditgate

1  We-think-we-are-free 2016-11-24

Invite only ohh la la

11  Majnum 2016-11-24

From u/spez profile:

Hey Everyone,

Yep. I messed with the “fuck u/spez” comments. It’s been a long week here trying to unwind the r/pizzagate stuff. As much as we try to maintain a good relationship with you all, it does get old getting called a pedophile constantly. As the CEO, I shouldn’t play such games, and it’s all fixed now. Our community team is pretty pissed at me, so I most assuredly won’t do this again.

Fuck u/spez.

12  MongodbOnlyPawn 2016-11-24

What an insecure, undisciplined ass that guy is. His handling of the Orlando attack coverage opened my eyes, when he participated in site-wide censorship and then posted a series of snarky, self-righteous comments about it. But this is just unprofessional on so many levels.

6  [deleted] 2016-11-24

Probably cause he knew it was fake too

5  OFFICIALDonaldJTrump 2016-11-24

I forgot about the Orlando censorship. That was bad.

1  Gimmie_2_Dollars 2016-11-24

That was when i deleted my old account.

10  ragecry 2016-11-24

a good relationship with "you all"

ya'll scum that ruin my biz, that's what he means

grow some skin buddy, you're CEO of a huge website, this kind of response is way below anyone in your position

this website is a dime a dozen by the way

yes please look up my name in the accounting files, i paid for reddit gold and the customer is always right AMIRIGHT

trying to unwind pizzagate...you mean dismantle it

instead of making a statement in the pizzagate sub, you played the shadow hand

thanks for reminding

4  tamrix 2016-11-24

Removing the content is one thing. Changing the comment to target another user is just immature.

2  Gimmie_2_Dollars 2016-11-24

Fuck u/spez it appears to me that you deserve people saying fuck u/spez. Fuck..u/spez, as a former SRSer it is not surprising that you create your own safe space. Fuck u/spez, In the real world people do not like you sometimes..it happens. Fuck u/spaz, as an adult you should know better. Fuck u/spez, seems to me that you will be the one who makes people leave this fake open forum that was once called Reddit. Fuck u/spez..you changed a free platform into another social media voice for a criminal. An fuck u/spez..now it is now longer Reddit..but now Peddit..the safe haven for pedos...An with that i say FUCK YOU SPEZ. Fuck that was fucking fun. I needed a goddam fucking break from cooking this fucking Thanksgiving food. fuckity fuck fuck fuck..

1  Kjartan_Aurland 2016-11-24

http://archive.is/Zx9bP

Archived copy in case he nukes.

11  Putin_loves_cats 2016-11-24

This is a terrifying precedent being set here. Seriously, fuck reddit.

6  chickyrogue 2016-11-24

putes i told you they change my words

3  accountingisboring 2016-11-24

I wonder how long this has been happening and how often? This is really bad.

5  chickyrogue 2016-11-24

but i had been given links that indicated comments were being manipulated online [not necesarily here] since 2014 so i guess hillary stalin clintoon decided after the convention to make some of us out to be complete idiots or stoopid yeah and then ctr hit us and now jtrig

they hate us for our freedoms!

3  accountingisboring 2016-11-24

Damn.

5  chickyrogue 2016-11-24

i know happy thanksgiving at least we are on to them

3  accountingisboring 2016-11-24

Happy Thanksgiving to you & yours!

3  chickyrogue 2016-11-24

TY hope its safe for everyone!!

1  [deleted] 2016-11-24

[removed]

2  AssuredlyAThrowAway 2016-11-24

no trolling, only warning.

3  chickyrogue 2016-11-24

to me for about 3 months

3  AntiHasbaraUnit 2016-11-24

i remember you posting that.

1  chickyrogue 2016-11-24

TY i know i say this alot

it frustrating but hey truth will out!

1  AntiHasbaraUnit 2016-11-24

keep speaking the truth.

2  chickyrogue 2016-11-24

i know its very important its the one thing i can do

2  Putin_loves_cats 2016-11-24

I do remember you saying something like that.. This is not good.

3  chickyrogue 2016-11-24

i know i go back and re edit so i am not a complete ass at the end of the day

or they add letters or they take away very clever but hangin for now in voat

2  daneelr_olivaw 2016-11-24

Someone should make a bot/addin/plugin that automatically takes a screenshot of your comment and attaches it to the comment.

2  chickyrogue 2016-11-24

maybe reddit should just back off tell CTR to fuck off and promise no more JTRIG

but they wont

they compromised themselves just like every other entity in msm this year no better pack of lies

what are we thankful for

reddit = re-edit!

3  chickyrogue 2016-11-24

nice to see you happy thanksgiving

as the tears were runnin down my face this week from the blast of cold i figured you suffered worse still

9  VaskatKontoNummer1 2016-11-24

The admins of a forum actively manipulating the database to change the posts? There is no way that they can explain this away. When this news hit the front page there is going to be heads rolling.

Reddit is fucking dead. I joined a year ago when Bernie announced his candidacy and absolutely loved Reddit, thinking this is the tool people need to get organized and make a difference.

The last week has shown me that this platform is dead. The r/all has in the last couple of weeks turned into a congregation of shitposts consisting of gifs, memes and the occasional post from r/science, r/worldnews r/politics or r/the_donald.

The sad thing is Reddit is such an amazing platform with such a huge userbase that it will be hard to make another alternative that doesn't devolve into pure shitposts.

And I've not even mentioned the amount of shills and bots that has made it's way here in the last year.

1  7relos 2016-11-24

You're full of it. 4 year club, Reddit has always been that way, however I will agree... Reddit was sold long ago to Conde Nast, a subsidiary of Advance Publications. Even without admins' overreach of power (nothing new to report), certain influencers have been tailoring this entire website for years now.

If you don't know this already, I'm not sure you're ready to learn everything else...

1  VaskatKontoNummer1 2016-11-24

I have been flagged for posting this: https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/5elgzl/the_podesta_email_they_absolutely_absolutely_dont/ It rose to around 200 upvotes and 35 comments in the first hour. Then a couple of answers and a massively slowed down voting.

I hope you'll to bring me up to speed on what I've missed.

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7  KingJames19 2016-11-24

"Pizzagate stuff" = users unwinding a pedo ring u/spez

4  AntiHasbaraUnit 2016-11-24

wasnt reddit content and a user history part of a congressionalhearing in the very recent past? what are the legal implications for this? is all electronic and social media evidence now suddenly trash?

3  AssuredlyAThrowAway 2016-11-24

wasnt reddit content and a user history part of a congressionalhearing in the very recent past?

Yep- http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/documents/%2875%29%20Chaffetz%20Smith%20to%20Tidwell%20re%20Federal%2009-21-2016.pdf

3  AntiHasbaraUnit 2016-11-24

and boom goes the dynamite.

3  man_of_liberty 2016-11-24

Blockchain technology is a solution that we must start adopting NOW! Whether it's Bitcoin, ethereum, namecoin, steem, you name it... Decentralizing our information framework protects from censorship. It's important we start adopting it while we still can.

Join the move anywhere but here or Facebook, we need Reddit alternatives quickly. Here's one on steem which appears to rest on its own blockchain:

https://steemit.com/trending/pizzagate

Whoever can make a fully decentralized Bitcoin Reddit hybrid happen quickly will be a goddamn hero for all of time.

2  Dragnar12 2016-11-24

Although I agree whit u blockchain records and remembers everything.
Part of the problems is not being able to remove illegal shit,
Witch would then make that whole platform illegal.
Wen u add in a system that enables deleating things then that in itself is a security problem.
And defeats the purpose of the chain itself.
Th only way this could work is if u except shit like cp videos and so on on the protocol.
Even if we made it text only u could still upload videos in the form of text.
I myself am sure there is most likely already some jack-ass sharing illegal shit trough btc.
And if your running a wallet you are considered to be a host

3  sandernista_4_TRUMP 2016-11-24

There are 2000 users here right now, this submission should have that many upvotes

2  Dragnar12 2016-11-24

This make any info gained trough reddit.
Unpromissible to a courthouse.
This is so easy to be abused.
And it has been abused more as once.
Why would they make a tool to do this wen they never use it.

1  7relos 2016-11-24

Y'know, at first I was like, "this guy can't write for shit"

Then I realized, you know more about block chains than I do... Props, my man

1  Dragnar12 2016-11-24

Ty.
Yea sorry I am dialectic :(

2  Amos_Quito 2016-11-24

Reddit admins have never engaged in server side manipulation of user comments before this action today.

That we are aware of...

/ADMIN TROLLS ARE WORST TROLLS

2  lordrothschild 2016-11-24

Reddit admins have never engaged in server side manipulation of user comments before this action today.

LOL. They've been doing it for years.

They covertly edited user posts on the PizzaGate sub, inserting breaches of the TOS into these posts, to justify deletion of the sub.

2  djklbd 2016-11-24

How is this not way bigger news...Front page worthy.

2  Gimmie_2_Dollars 2016-11-24

This makes me think I am less crazy. On this account and my old one I would notice my spelling was off or words i did not type would be in my comments when i went back to read them. I discovered this one time while referencing a previous comment in a debate. I thought I may be typing things and not realizing it. It was always in posts from r-news too. If it was not for this sub I never would of came back to reddit, an if was not for the Cunts Trolling Reddit team I never would of created a new account. Crazy times we are in my friends.

2  [deleted] 2016-11-24

[deleted]

1  ParanoidFactoid 2016-11-24

It's to the point where one must cryptographically sign comments in order to be certain they haven't been changed.

2  TheWiredWorld 2016-11-24

"reddit admins have never done this before"

Says who? You?

1  K0LA 2016-11-24

"the same precise moment" how precise?

1  Mrexreturns 2016-11-24

Well....Isn't the_donald subject to infiltration of all forms before? Can't let the opposition get long.

1  A_weary_wanderer 2016-11-24

I'm new to /r/conspiracy so I don't know what AANA is and sorry if this a dumb question, but how do we know this is the first time something like this has happened?

3  sirisaac- 2016-11-24

It's a bold lie being pushed as a narrative by a moderator of reddit.com.

He creates a fake narrative and we watch with amazement while few question this baseless narrative.

This post should be removed for lying to the community.

1  AssuredlyAThrowAway 2016-11-24

I don't moderate /r/reddit.com?

1  I-o-n-i-x 2016-11-24

Reddit admins have never engaged in server side manipulation of user comments before this action today.

... as far as we know and have admitted to doing so.

1  ShardBlade 2016-11-24

This is the first time we have seen this, what if this has been a long standing practice.

1  pooptypeuptypantss 2016-11-24

Man I can't tell you just how much I love /u/spez. He is the best admin and CEO reddit has had this site has fallen. This should be added to the list of how this website fucked itself over.

edit Nice try /u/spez!

1  kirillsbusinessblog 2016-11-24

Reddit admins u mean 17 yr olds with no conscience?

1  TheAllSpark67 2016-11-24

You only feel sorry you got caught. I'm a new account but I used to come here for reading for years. I'm ashamed you are acting like a toltalitarian "CEO" instead of letting people express their minds like this place is supposed to be. You refer to these people as assholes but just because someone disagreees with you or even dislikes someone you support doesn't make them assholes. It makes you an asshole for trying to censor them.

1  ParanoidFactoid 2016-11-24

It's to the point where one must cryptographically sign comments in order to be certain they haven't been changed.