Path: ...!Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-4.nntp.ord.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail
NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 06 Dec 2024 16:40:02 +0000
From: Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: How not to start the day
Date: Fri, 06 Dec 2024 11:40:02 -0500
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On Thu, 5 Dec 2024 13:52:26 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com>
wrote:

>So banned account as in you just couldn't post anything, or as in you 
>can't play any of your (tens of?) thousands of games?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I turned on the computer in the morning to
check the email, and -because I leave Steam running all the time-
"account locked" message was front and foremost on the screen. I fired
off a message to Valve's customer service, and then went and did Real
Stuff (tm) because I didn't have time to play games. I assume it was a
"hahaha we got your games" but maybe it was more limited? I didn't
test it. By the time I /could/, Valve had unlocked the account
already. 

Either way, though, it's still annoying.

>I never really trusted Steam, I suppose that's why I rarely post 
>anything there, especially negative for fear of the same, they hold my 
>most treasured games hostage afterall.

It's always been a worry with Steam (and any other online service).
Arguably, Valve may be better than any of the others. But it's the
price the PC gaming community has chosen to pay (or chooses to ignore
the cost) when we rallied around Steam and other online marketplaces,
despite the warnings of some. 

>As to their algorithm, I believe you posted about them changing to AI 
>moderation, which is orders of magnitude more difficult, or impossible 
>to figure out what the hell it's doing in the black box of it's program. 

I don't know if they actually ARE tweaking their moderation
algorithms. It was just a guess. However, Steam has come under fire
--rightfully so-- for the amount of hateful comments that can be found
on their service (the ADL highlighted anti-Semitic comments, but Steam
users can be pretty broad in their spite). Having had a flashlight
shone upon them, I wouldn't be surprised if Valve is scampering to
stamp out some of the worst examples. But I don't know if this is what
actually happened.

Which is, again, the primary thrust of my complaint: the lack of
transparency in the process. It's so black-box not even the
administrators know why the algorithm flags certain content, and yet
they blindly trust it and follow its recommendations (or allow it to
take action on its own recognizance) without human oversight. I find
that problematic. Not just on a personal level but because --as
evidenced by your own comment above-- it stifles free expression
because nobody knows just WHAT will get them flagged. That's murder on
an online community, and if unchecked can drive people away.

Steam (and other online services, from EGS to YouTube to Bluesky) can
and should moderate. But they need to be clear to people about what
will and will not trigger actions, and they need to ensure human
oversight rather than relying on the AI to correctly judge the
situation. 

At the moment, the issue with my account is resolved. But like you, I
feel chary about engaging with the community there anymore.