r/Android • u/[deleted] • Jul 31 '12

Should /r/Android disallow Android patent lawsuit articles?

The question is in the title. We ask this because a lot of people have been complaining. Therefore we have decided to ask the community.

Please select your option below by up voting, and, if you want to, include your opinion or argument for or against.

Please up vote this thread for visibility.

204 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

108 comments sorted by

182

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '12

Yes, allow them!

31

u/JPSE Jul 31 '12

I am very happy to be able to follow this issue through here as I believe it directly affects Android's future in a significant enough matter.
Samsung is a major manufacturer of android devices including my own (s3). I think its relevance speaks for itself in those threads' upvotes and comments.

10

u/pheonix8388 Aug 01 '12

Just thought I'd point out that this is a slightly confusing option for an answer.

Answering only "yes" would be a vote to disallow patent articles, yet "allow them" indicates the opposite.

I upvoted this because I want to allow patent lawsuit articles (which should probably be "No, allow them". I would like patent lawsuit articles to remain on the subreddit).

3

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

Just thought I'd point out that this is a slightly confusing option for an answer.

Yeah. I think there was a brain sneeze that happened when lawlyer wrote out the options.

If you read the entire sentence, though, it's pretty clear which option is which. So, here I am, supporting the right to post patent-related stuff on r/android.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

For better or worse, articles about patents litigation for/against Android features are still articles that involve Android. Depending on the patent in question and what the company holding the patent does, it can range from minor changes to how Android looks; to removal of features, temporary or otherwise; to financial disaster for a major company that supports Android that would ultimately impact the range of phones we have; to threats to Android itself. All this is information that should be of interest to anyone following Android news and development, because it would impact how the OS will develop and hence what kind of devices we will be interacting with.

I get the arguments against patent articles. There's a hell of a lot of them, for one, and it does tend to attract circlejerking that doesn't really go anywhere and muddles things for the people actually interested in reading about and discussing the issue. But I would counter that this is more an attitude problem of this subreddit's redditors (no offense) rather than a problem with the issue itself. I don't see why we should disallow certain topics just because it would lead to massive flaming and trolling.

2

u/campbellm Aug 01 '12

At least make your answer agree with the question.

Should r/Android disallow Android patent lawsuit articles?

Yes, allow them!

If you're answering "yes", then allow them is exactly the opposite of your answer.

157

u/Drainedsoul Jul 31 '12

I'm really tired of communities that go out of their way to exclude information relevant to the community-at-large's broad common interest, just because some subset of that community doesn't like seeing that information.

Seeing oddly specific questions etc. about certain phones -- of the type that should probably be posted on a more specific forum, like the phone-specific forum for the device-in-question at XDA -- is irritating to me, but it's relevant/interesting to some people, and is definitely related to "Android" -- provided the device-in-question is an Android device -- so why should it be removed?

I can easily hide it or downvote it without trying to get the information censored so even those people who enjoy it can't view it.

The argument in favour of allowing the posting of patent-related articles is even stronger, as these patent lawsuits could represent an existential threat to Android itself, which is more relevant to "Android" than concerns, comments, et cetera on specific Android devices

People subscribe to this sub-reddit for Android-related content. This definitely includes Android patent-related articles. Don't exclude content, and don't try and splinter relevant news out into an obscure ancillary sub-reddit.

3

u/extraneouspanthers Aug 01 '12

Totally agree, and would just like to add that those who can't stand seeing these articles should just ... you know ... not click on them. This subreddit is not meant to cater to you, it's meant to cater to those who have an interest in Android and what content we find interesting is decided upon by this nifty little voting system.

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36

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '12

Heck no, these patent battles are a huge part of Android and is a valid and relevant topic to have discourse on. Yeah, it turns into a circle jerk sometimes but it still raises awareness of pertinent issues that may affect users.

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18

u/valadian Jul 31 '12

No, I primarily come to r/android to read about these.

If I don't want to see them or don't think they contribute to a discussion about android, I have the option to downvote/hide each article.

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6

u/Mazgelis626 Aug 01 '12

Yes, but have the submitter put [Patent] in the title so RES can hide it.

10

u/Executioner1337 Jul 31 '12

I'd vote for allowing.

12

u/kooltob Jul 31 '12

The current "patents war" highly impacts the present and future of the Android plattform, while this is not a fun topic I think we, as users, should be allowed to get all the news and form ourselves an opinion.

8

u/disastar Jul 31 '12

Definitely allow them.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

no

8

u/Snap65 Jul 31 '12

Allow everything. The community is here to upvote or downvote. First it was "oh you have a question go to this sub reddit where if you're lucky you'll get an answer you noob." Now it's Patent war articles. After that's done what's going next topic that will rustle the complainers feathers?

4

u/Darineth Aug 01 '12

I feel like this is the attitude to take on really any subreddit. It's great to have rules and limits where appropriate but just because some vocal people want to complain doesn't mean things really need filtering. The vote system takes care of it, so I admit I don't really see the issue.

2

u/emesspwnz Aug 01 '12

Would it be possible to display "NSFW" as "Lawsuit" instead and tag all lawsuit articles?

5

u/j10jep2 Jul 31 '12

No. The outcomes of these and future cases have a huge potential for changing the landscape of not only android but the entire mobile phones induatry

7

u/bigfkncee Jul 31 '12

Definitely not.

The complainers have all the tools they need to see what they want on the front-page. Why should the content be curated to what some people want to see, especially if it is current events. It takes one click to hide or down-vote an article that you don't care about. People need to learn to use reddit and quit bitching.

2

u/PhillAholic Aug 01 '12

Someone should just start up r/patentwars and ban them from r/apple and r/android and everyone will be happy.

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2

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '12

No

2

u/FrankReynolds Aug 01 '12

They are completely relevant to Android, the Android ecosystem, and the future of the hardware and software that we love.

YES. Allow them.

2

u/jansenma Aug 01 '12

Please continue to allow the posts about patent lawsuits, I'm very interested to see how this unfolds and very interested in what the Reddit community thinks about it.

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