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IMO, you're getting downvoted because your judgment of people on AM assumes facts not in evidence (i.e., that users of AM are there to cheat on their unknowing
by brerlapn 11y ago
IMO, you're getting downvoted because your judgment of people on AM assumes facts not in evidence (i.e., that users of AM are there to cheat on their unknowing spouses), and then judges those people based on those facts that only exist in your head. It's self-aggrandizing, and the tone doesn't come off as participation in a discourse about morality as much as a narcissistic statement about the identity you'd like people to assign you ("wow, duncan_bayne is hardcore judgey about those AM users. He must really be against adultery.") See also [0]. Finally, it's also a derail from the reasons people are discussing the story that is more HN-relevant (technical and security aspects, user data practices, etc.).
So to answer your closing questions - 1) "no", people discuss morality all the time on HN, especially in relation to economic relations, 2) Probably "yes", because your judgment says more about what you want to say about adultery than about the actual behavior of AM users (who could have all sorts of non-adulterous reasons to be on the site), 3) clearly "no" (see (1)), but jumping to that overarching assumption that people are downvoting your comments because they just don't like morality is part of that self-aggrandizing impression I'm talking about.
If this was a dump of Petsmart's customer database, and you posted a bunch of comments judging the Petsmart customers as deserving to be exposed because they bought their pet from a puppy mill and some PETA links, people would downvote you, too--partially for the substance and partially just for derailing the conversation.
[0] http://www.davidbrin.com/addiction.html http://www.davidbrin.com/addiction.html
- WillPostForFood 11y agoyou're getting downvoted because your judgment of people on AM assumes facts not in evidence (i.e., that users of AM are there to cheat on their unknowing spouses This is all text from the homepage of Ashley Madison: "Ashley Madison is the world's leading married dating service for discreet encounters" Their tagline, a registered trademark is, "Life is short. Have an affair.®" "Ashley Madison is the most famous name in infidelity and married dating." "Thousands of cheating wives and cheating husbands signup everyday looking for an affair. "
- warkdarrior 11y agoYou are confusing marketing with actual use. Cf "to serve and protect".
- lambkins 11y agoNot surprised to see the overlap between the anti-cop and pro-adultery crowd.
- brerlapn 11y agoI've been known to drink Budweiser. Does that mean that I believe that women will suddenly find me sexy and the Swedish bikini team will appear as I pop off the bottlecap to lavish me with scantily-clad attention? You are conflating the marketing copy of the company with the intentions and motivations of the users. Just because something confirms your most cynical expectations doesn't make it true. Ashley Madison has absolutely no idea whether any particular user, if they are married, is on there to do anything with their profile other than browse, or whether their spouse knows they are on there, or for that matter if a couple is browsing the site together as part of their joint fantasy life, or if they are in an open relationship, or a number of other scenarios that have no impact on you and really provide no basis for you to cast judgment about their motivations--especially in an absence of evidence. See again, my cite to David Brin's article on addiction to outrage.
- antillean 11y agoUh, what? How is membership in a website that is known, markets itself, and is designed as a cheating website not evidence of the intentions and motivations of its members? Of course membership in Ashley Madison isn't irrefutable proof that a person is looking for an affair. But how is it also not good reason to believe that he/she is?
- kalms 11y agoYou can use a gun for killing, and it's marketed for that specific purpose. Does owning a gun make you a killer?