Better Online Living through Content Moderation: https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/better-online-living-through-content-moderation.
Background
The author Melissa King Starts the article off by stating to the reader what exactly content control features are and what they are used for. She gives a little insight as to why some people might want to use them and then she gives reasons as to why people won’t want to use them. In her reasoning, she states how some people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder might need to use them because they may experience anxiety navigating the web due to their condition. Also, she says that people that don’t use it may view others as weak minded or too sensitive, But she shows how those people aren’t affected by the content and only the viewer with anxiety is.
Computer-Chair Psychology
In this part of the article, the author gives a couple of statements from people such as Maddy Myers and psychologist such as Caleb Lack. This part of the article shows how PTSD can be caused by more than just being in war. It shows that it can be caused by online bullying and be threatened over a period of time. Thus, showing how content control features are necessary if certain people don’t want to have anxiety or don’t want their anxiety to worsen due to little remarks made on twitter or things they see on the internet that can be avoided. This part of the article also shows how Real Exposure Therapy can help and not people that ar random strangers that just throw threats and insults at someone.
Threatening Legal Recource
The Author goes into detail about blocklists in this section and shows how people may need to use the tools to get away from harmful internet users. Blocklists are content control tools that block hate groups that try to threaten users. The hate groups can do anything and since everything is online, one would never know exactly what someone is capable of doing because nothing is for sure when being threatened online. The Example of the hate groups in the article was Gamergate, TERFs, MRA/PUAs, and white supremacists. They were said to threaten you, call your family members, post pictures of your house, and overall entail fear within their victims. The specific example used was with Gamergate and how they do all these things and how people may have to download a small app just to get these hate groups from communication or getting in contact with them.
Towards More Personal Agency Over Online Experiences
In the last part of the article, the author explains how women have been a major victim of online abuse and threatening in the video game industry and in online interaction. She Most likely put this part of the article last due to her being a female and the fact that it seems like the most people that suffer from online abuse are females. She states how The Abuse is so bad the UN hosted an event that had Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian there and they were able to share the horrible threats and details of the abuse that they go through being a female online.