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Comment by freehunter | Hacker News Reader

Handling garbage as a garbage collector is not unfair treatment, it’s the actual job.

Handling garbage as a YouTube moderator is not unfair treatment, it’s the actual job.

It seems to me that a youtube moderator has to moderate things ranging from a simple boob on screen to the most atrocious acts you can imagine.

Is like telling the garbage collector that picks up the thrash in your neighborhood to go to a melted reactor to pick up a bag because, hey, his/her job is to collect garbage. Would it be unfair treatment?

... but yet noone would be surprised at all if someone found a baby, mutilated animal, dead homeless, toxic wasted, etc. in a dumpster

But, due to the labor organization, they have the healthcare guarantee to have their traumas addressed.

Do the YouTube moderators have the same?

What are you talking about. I would be horrified (and yes, also: surprised) to find anything like that in a dumpster. You live in a scary place.

But aren't there ways to mitigate some of the issues of both? Might those ways incur costs to the company? Isn't the role of organized labor to advocate for the workers in areas where pure drive for profit would put workers lower priority?

The role of organized labor is to advocate for workers who want to organize. I don't think it's reasonable to assume that something must be wrong with a company simply because it doesn't have a union.

I didn't intend to say that something is wrong with a company if its employees are not unionized.

I did intend to say that a union can be an effective tool in advocating for employees to an organization that is driven to maximize profit.

For profit companies are often rewarded for minimizing costs. Certainly one can envision that FB might view moderation teams as an expense rather than strategic investment.

Organized labor can be a good counter balance to that.

I’m sorry but either you don’t know what you’re talking about here or have consumed some serious late-stage capitalism koolaid. This reporter has previously covered the experiences content moderators face in these types of jobs, and I suggest you read those articles.

Every day these moderators need to consume a rapid stream of horrifying videos depicting extreme forms of physical and sexual violence, in some cases involving children. In the FB moderator article they mentioned having to do so as fast as possible and with very few breaks. The employers provide pitiful mental health support, and unsurprisingly a lot of these workers develop serious PTSD and in some cases have committed suicide.

This is treatment that would normally be considered psychological torture, but because these people get paid (rather poorly at that) and signed some waiver then it’s “fair”? A lot of these people take these jobs because they’re desperate or don’t fully understand the consequences. I know that HN community is pro business, but I’m shocked at the callousness displayed by some of the comments here. A society that allows companies to pay desperate people to destroy their mental health is not a healthy one.

So just no one should do the job then? What’s your solution? Yeah they see horrible shit, that’s the job. There’s no way to do the job and NOT see horrible shit.

Should they get mental health care? Yes. Should they be treated better? Sure. Should they unionize? I’m all for it. But none of that stuff keeps them from handling garbage day in and day out. Because that’s the job.

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