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Fired Reddit Exec Launches Competing Site (thenextweb.com) 273

An anonymous reader writes: "Dan McComas, the former second-in-command at Reddit -- and vocal critic of its more inflammatory groups -- wants to build a better Reddit, one that focuses on 'healthy, positive communities,'" reports TheNextWeb. Raising $3 million, Imzy.com quietly launched earlier this year with over 500 discussion forums, aspiring to become an advertising-free space where content creators can interact with their fans. Moderators and users of Imzy can be "tipped" with online payments from other users, while the site hopes to remain advertising-free by taking a cut from on-site transactions. But "at its core though, Imzy wants to provide a safe place to share and discuss without the fear of being harassed, a problem Reddit has struggled with for several years."
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Fired Reddit Exec Launches Competing Site

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  • define healthy (Score:5, Insightful)

    by turkeydance ( 1266624 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @10:35AM (#51977627)
    oh, and positive, too.
    • Re:define healthy (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24, 2016 @10:41AM (#51977635)

      am i the only one that felt the cult vibe from the website?

      • Re:define healthy (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24, 2016 @10:45AM (#51977651)

        A community that focuses on giving wealth and general messages of positivity and encouragement to a person in a leadership role encased in a cutesy art style? Never.

        • Re: define healthy (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward

          A community where minorities and women are gods and the straight white man is not allowed unless he denigrates his own kind to bow to his new overlords.

          • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24, 2016 @11:29AM (#51977849)

            Which is why I'm registered in as a mulitracial trans 'man' refugee, rape and FGM survivor.

            Bow to my hormonally enlarged clitoral stub.

          • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

            by Anonymous Coward

            A community where minorities and women are gods and the straight white man is not allowed unless he denigrates his own kind to bow to his new overlords.

            Jesus, butt-hurt and whiny much?

          • Re: define healthy (Score:5, Insightful)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @03:58PM (#51979217) Homepage Journal

            So, I checked out the site and it's invite only. Did you get an invite? Have you actually confirmed that it discriminates against straight white men?

            There are too many perpetual victims on Slashdot these days.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            A community where minorities and women are gods and the straight white man is not allowed unless he denigrates his own kind to bow to his new overlords.

            It's terrible. That was literally the only place on the internet where a straight white man could feel comfortable and it's been ruined. There is officially nowhere else for you. You are now an oppressed minority.

            • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

              by Mashiki ( 184564 )

              It's terrible. That was literally the only place on the internet where a straight white man could feel comfortable and it's been ruined. There is officially nowhere else for you. You are now an oppressed minority.

              "We demand xyz groups let us in, if they don't they're sexist/racist/homophobic!" Groups let them in.

              Same said people who were whining: "We're creating safe spaces for xyz groups! Look how progressive we are!" People face palm from the hypocrisy.

              Sorry, the real problem is the unbelievable hypocrisy and demands from the perpetual whiners when they want something and decide to invade someone else's places, while demanding privileges and expecting that content creators or societies bend over backwards for t

      • by Anonymous Coward

        I just signed up for an invite. Can't wait to troll them hard.

    • Why it's what we're doing here of course, because we have a site that's healthy and positive, so healthy and positive is what our site doing.

      I imagine they'll be about as healthy and positive as Fox News is fair and balanced.
    • Re: define healthy (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24, 2016 @11:15AM (#51977787)

      No dissenting opinions allowed. The biggest progressive echo chamber imaginable, where no one is allowes to question this ideology. And no one is allowed to say anything remotely controversial or offensive because it might "trigger" someone's negative feelings and cause untold "psychological" damage.

      • by WarJolt ( 990309 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @11:25AM (#51977827)

        No dissenting opinions allowed. The biggest progressive echo chamber imaginable, where no one is allowes to question this ideology. And no one is allowed to say anything remotely controversial or offensive because it might "trigger" someone's negative feelings and cause untold "psychological" damage.

        Oh... so basically /.

      • That's a good summary!

        Stupid justice whiners are ignorant of a few things:

        * Why are they disrespectful to everyone who doesn't kowtow to their ideology?
        * Why are they so insecure that someone has a different opinion?
        * ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away,
        * When opinions are so homogenized that it leads to cargo cult science you effectively have created reverse discrimination -- the very definition of intolerance,
        * How the fuck is incorrect information supposed to be corrected with factual information,

    • oh, and positive, too.

      This is both healthy and positive. A good subset of the idiots will leave Reddit and go there.

      The downside is that they'll all eventually say something that offends somebody and so the end-game is that all the users are banned.

      Show me any person who isn't perceived as an asshole at least 1% of the time, even inadvertently.

      If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.

    • Re:define healthy (Score:5, Interesting)

      by McGruber ( 1417641 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @01:04PM (#51978321)
      IMZY.com's definition of healthy apparently includes a Delusion of Anonymity. From the site:

      Create different profiles to fit your various identities, or even participate anonymously, all easily under one account.

    • Personally, I think they should've stuck with the perfectly good non-word healthful. ;)
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24, 2016 @10:40AM (#51977633)

    I clicked the link and visited the site. It looks like it was designed for Barney fans.

  • Awesome (Score:5, Interesting)

    by CrashNBrn ( 1143981 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @10:41AM (#51977637)
    We need something better than Usenet... Oh wait, nothing has been better than usenet, as not a single damned "service" allows you to easily filter information.
    • Apparently still not allowed to mention UN... aiight.
    • Re:Awesome (Score:5, Funny)

      by ottawanker ( 597020 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @11:01AM (#51977725) Homepage

      Because porn is better when it has been uuencoded, just like records sound better than CDs.

    • by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

      Usenet works when people are well behaved. We used it at school and it worked great, because our newsgroups were private and you don't want to be too much of an asshole because you are communicating with the same people you meet IRL on a regular basis.
      On the greater internet, it is spamfest. Usenet got a surge in popularity because of alt.binaries were efficient filesharing platforms but real public newsgroups are pretty much dead.

  • Moderators and users of Imzy can be "bought" with online payments

    FTFY.
    Sound like a pretty bad idea to me at first glance.

    • by Mashiki ( 184564 )

      That's because it is a bad idea. Just look at reddit and the number of times moderators have been caught taking bribes, payoffs, or outright payments from companies or other people to press or repress particular opinions. Nothing kills a community faster then shit like that.

  • Only good news!! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Hans Lehmann ( 571625 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @10:47AM (#51977657)
    Reminds me of a newspaper startup back in the 80's(?) called Good News, that only printed uplifting and cheerful stories. Needless to say that experiment didn't last long.
    • Except this is even sillier, because this guy is counting on the decency of the internet users themselves to produce the "safe" content. I picture him building a beautiful, elaborate sandcastle on a public beach full of 9-year-old boys who love to sew chaos.
    • by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @11:06AM (#51977737) Journal

      Reminds me of a newspaper startup back in the 80's(?) called Good News, that only printed uplifting and cheerful stories. Needless to say that experiment didn't last long.

      Both editions are now collector's items.

  • You can never escape the assholes. It is impossible. There is always going to be someone there to hate on you.
  • by Iamthecheese ( 1264298 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @10:58AM (#51977705)
    I understand the value of a place like this. A positive, clean environment where I can feel safe. I'm tired of the harassment and constant fighting I see in other sites. I can't wait to join. I just have a quick question. The lobotomy, does it come free with membership or do I have to pay separately?
    • If you have to ask you will never know. But your credit card will be charged regardless. Welcome to the new age of safe places.

  • Oh HELL no (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @11:05AM (#51977733) Journal

    I went to the page, and my browser immediately started asking me for "permission to send me notifications", ala "in-browser nagging and begging".

    Instant turn off. Jesus fucking christ, can't you even wait until someone joins before starting to pester the shit out of them??

    Also, alll the stuff about "healthy, positive communities" sounds like codespeak for "SJW's run this place". As if Reddit wasn't already infested with all the "safe space" and "triggering" and "micro-aggression" bullshit, this looks to be built for SJW's from the ground up.

    Yeah, umm thanks, but I'll pass on this.

    • Am I the only one (Score:2, Insightful)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 )
      getting tired of people railing against social justice? Anyway, I'll just leave this [tumblr.com] here.
      • From your link:

        “In these days of political correctness” talking about no longer making jokes that denigrated people for their culture or for the colour of their skin. And I thought, “That’s not actually anything to do with ‘political correctness’. That’s just treating other people with respect.”

        The prophet Carlin would be rolling in his grave. Next thing you know, I won't be allowed to make tranny jokes.

        • nobody complains about a roast, because it's understood you're there for fun. It's the random bit of nastiness thrown out at LGBTs that Gaiman and thoses "SJWs" are railing against.
        • The prophet Carlin would be rolling in his grave. Next thing you know, I won't be allowed to make tranny jokes.

          Ron White tells a joke that starts off, "You know what fuckin I hate about trannies?"

          The crowd goes silent in shocked horror, and after a beat, he continues,

          "The damn things won't shift out of 'Park' unless you have your fuckin' foot on the brake."

      • The problem with your link is that Political Correctness does not equate to "treating people with respect".

        The people who are "politically correct" usually have a separate groups of people for whom they show utter disdain. All is does is shift WHO they make fun of, and ramps up the level of cruelty...

        Meanwhile even the people who "political correctness" are meant to help, it does a disservice to - pretending like all people are equal damages those who are truly not in the end.

        Indeed the real goal SHOULD be

        • what people and what groups. Specifically. I'd like to know. I do see them angry at Nazi's. And I do see them angry at police officers who feel they can get away with extra force against blacks. You'll noticed I said 'extra', not excessive. The problem being that cops feel safe using _more_ force and that makes the likelihood of things getting out of hand higher...

          You're words are hollow. What I hear is the same technique Karl Rove pioneered. I'm not even sure I'm aware you're doing it. It's a simple tec
  • by thomasdz ( 178114 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @11:11AM (#51977765)

    As we've learned from the new Social Justice Warriors movement, many people feel "harassed" just by comments or actions that aren't intended to be harassing... hell, I've probably scared at least three people to their safe place just by this post alone.

    • Indeed. Disagreement is harassment to many people these days, and an attempt at an honest conversation can easily turn someone into a shivering wreck.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Care to answer your own question? Presumably you think there is some limit to what one person can do to another.

      • Care to answer your own question? Presumably you think there is some limit to what one person can do to another.

        Nope, it's on the internet so it doesn't count. You see it's just words which are harmless because mere speech has no effect so it's not important. But not allowing it is censorship because speech is so important!

    • As we've learned from the new Social Justice Warriors movement, many people feel "harassed" just by comments or actions that aren't intended to be harassing... hell, I've probably scared at least three people to their safe place just by this post alone.

      After reading the comments I think a lot of people here need someone to build them a safe place to protect them from Social Justice Warriors.

  • If it's another "everybody can upvote/downvote every post, all the time" site, then it'll end up the same as Digg and Reddit.
  • I don't get reddit (Score:4, Insightful)

    by future assassin ( 639396 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @11:46AM (#51977921)

    it looks like someone used craigslist css to for a forum and tried to make it seems like Usenet?

  • The term "safe space" makes me think of a place that's moderated for ideas certain people don't agree with, as opposed for just trolls and harassment. The people who make a website interesting are the ones who are willing to have real discussions, and you aren't going to draw those people in by censoring ideas. The only way for a popular "safe space" to form on the web is if it starts out as an open discussion board, becomes successful, and then the "safe space" people come in and demand that it be made s

    • Zactly, but the thing is that those people are "wrong" and thus can be safely ignored. Why? Because The Powers That Be disagree with them, therefore they MUST be wrong.
    • by pr0nbot ( 313417 )

      There is such a thing as the quality of a debate, whereby people are expected to make their points with civility. If that's what's meant by a "safe" version of reddit, then I can see the merit. For example, I no longer look to Slashdot for tech discussion, because the comments appear to be dominated by uninformed and vitriolic opinion. (Next time there's a linux-related story, compare the discussion on slashdot with, for example, lwn.net.) Browsing the comments on stories like this is more of a guilty pleas

    • The term "safe space" makes me think of a place that's moderated for ideas certain people don't agree with,

      That is exactly what it is.

      "Safe" in their context means "nothing that might upset them, or make them think, or be faced with an unpopular opinion or viewpoint."

  • It's called Tumblr. At least for the values of "Healthy" and "Positive" that he's likely solving for.
  • The unhealthy balances the healthy by providing an outlet. Maybe there is some spill-over, but I find that in a discussion on Python Programming there is very little politics, racism, etc. There are excellent forums where people can crap on Trump supporters, or others where they can kiss the Trump ring. For the most part I would say that the "healthy" parts of reddit stay more pure than similar discussions in Slashdot. I don't know how many slashdot threads I have seen that started out with a metallurgical
  • "wants to build a better Reddit, one that focuses on 'healthy, positive communities,"

    So he's building a retirement community then...

    Certainly nothing on the internet.

  • by ooloorie ( 4394035 ) on Sunday April 24, 2016 @03:01PM (#51978947)

    I remember when disgruntled guys creating new USENET groups didn't end up getting $3 million for their trouble.

  • who is his target audience? children under 12?

If all else fails, lower your standards.

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