Source
r/metaNL•
PartiallyCat

Remove DOOM ping due to abuse and detrimental effects

RESOLVED

The Doom ping has been purportedly introduced to facilitate discussions on the videogame series Doom. However, most of the time it's abused for discussion of the US election, in particular to point to outlier polls, or to unverified news sources, to exaggerate the likelihood of poor outcomes for Democrats, to make baseless claims about knowing the outcomes ahead of time, and other exclusively negative stories, opinions, and claims. In short, it's being abused for doomposting, which is a DT variant of doomscrolling / doomsurfing.

While using a ping for something else than its original intent is not bad on its own, facilitating doomposting is detrimental to the quality of the discussion and to the mental health of DT regulars. It makes it easier for users to focus on and consume only the most negative posts, reinforcing their pre-existing beliefs. It congregates users sharing these beliefs into a cluster to upvote each others posts and make them more visible. It is based on the premise of starting with a conclusion and working your way backwards to find the evidence to support it; the opposite of what we'd like our community to be.

I honestly believe that doomposting is detrimental to the health of our community and its users. It should not be additionally encouraged by having a specific ping for it. I urge you to remove it, as it offers no positive value to the community as a whole, or even to the users who are using it.

EDIT: The discussion on possible outcomes of the election is already pretty well covered by the FIVEY ping; it should cover both encouraging as well as unsettling posts and analyses. We shouldn't be segregating those to cater to two separate groups.

Posted Oct 22, 2020, 6:48 AM UTC · edited

2032
Yosarian2•

Putting aside the question of the ping, this subs obsession with personally attacking anyone who is pessimistic about anything is incredibly unhealthy. I remember in February and early March when this sub just tore apart anyone who said they thought COVID was likely to be a serious problem, getting really angry at people. It's not healthy to only allow optimistic posts and hammer anyone who is not optimistic enough, that warps your perspective.

7
Q-bey•

This is completely separate from the ping discussion; I just want to respond to your thoughts on doomposting.

I can see where your coming from, but I think some doomposting is healthy to prevent circlejerking about how all the polls are saying we're going to win.

Of course some of it can go too far and be completely unsubstantiated, but we shouldn't remove all negative analysis just because it might be unsettling.

4
PartiallyCatOP•

I would like to emphasize that I'm not suggesting removing doomposts and actually haven't suggested that at all. I'm arguing against the mechanism that (perhaps inadvertently) makes those posts more visible to a certain segment of users and also facilitates those posts being boosted by the same segment. This is entirely about the ping itself.

The discussion on possible outcomes of the election is already pretty well covered by the FIVEY ping; it should cover both encouraging as well as unsettling posts and analyses. We shouldn't be segregating those to cater to two separate groups.

6
Yosarian2•

The FIVEY ping is only for polling, and nothing in the polls is a good reason to DOOMpost; the polls look fine. There are however a lot of other quite worrying things going on right now.

2
ExtensionUnusual•

It should be removed because it was originally suggested as a video game ping but has instead been used by those users as a call out ping which the NL mods have a standing policy against. It's a clear circumvention of the rules

2
Yosarian2•

None of the users who started the ping ever used it as a "call out ping".

1
farrenj•

I find DOOMposting to be a cathartic experience that largely points out the absurdity of most DOOM scenarios.

2
ExtensionUnusual•

(X)

4
ExtensionUnusual•

It was a stupid idea from the start. I can't believe the mods actually fell for it, it was obvious based on the users requesting it, they were not going to use it as a video game ping.. The user who originally suggested it as a video game ping, just ended up abusing it for a call out ping to stifle discussion, and call out people they disagreed with. They should be banned for violating Rules 1 and 3, it has led to people being harassed, downvoted and at times bullied.

2
farrenj•

Pretty sure the last two times I used the ping was me asking if anyone had seen reviews for the new DLC and asking if anyone had played another game I found that seemed similar to DOOM.

But I am just the worst and probably should be banned, you're right about that.

4
ExtensionUnusual•

You knew what you were doing when you originally suggested it, stop trying to absolve yourself of any responsibility here and acting shocked the PING was abused for other uses.

np.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/j8fzze/discussion_thread/g8bym3j/

Searching through recent uses of the PING it is overwhelmingly used as an election ping and not a video ping which supposedly was the original reason you proposed it.

2
farrenj•

Oh sure. My original request was very much tongue in cheek. And as soon as techmod put his foot down and said to stop using it for that tongue in cheek purpose I stopped and started using it exclusively as a video game ping.

Also, what's with the edit in that link? That's not actually part of my comment.

5
ExtensionUnusual•

I think I messed up the link. But regardless I am sorry I was so angry. It is just that imo the PING is currently being used for less than wholesome uses and I agree with this post that it is a good idea to remove it until after the election.

2
Yosarian2•

I've been on the DOOM ping since it started, and the "user who started it" never once used it to "stifle discussion", to "call out people", to "harass people", or to "bully people." This literally never happened, ever.

3
Kelsig•

i was one of the people who requested it because i like doom

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jenbanimMODMod•

Yeah, I knew this was a bad idea from the start, but I really wanted to talk about the game so I added it anyway against my better judgement

Sorry !ping DOOM, but this group is getting disabled until after the election. After that point, feel free to remind me to unlock it in case I forget

1
farrenj•

Et tu?

4
Kelsig•

can you ban deggit

3
URZ_•

What did deggit do lol?

1
Kelsig•

abuse the doom ping

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Pour1Out4DeezNutz•

but how will we talk about the game now?

2
jenbanimMod•

You could use the GAMING ping I suppose

3
groupbot•

Pinged members of DOOM group.

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1
RagingCleric•

Based mod

1