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will the people who are going to argue that the US is not a police state please step forward and address this damning evidence Unfortunately, it's difficult to

will the people who are going to argue that the US is not a police state please step forward and address this damning evidence Unfortunately, it's difficult to point out the high-powered shilling for authority that happens on HN because the biggest shills wield incredible influence (and karma). One learns not to poke the bear.

cryoshon 11y ago
Can you say more about the high powered shilling for authority that happens on HN? I've been around for quite a while and I can't say that I've seen such a thing... maybe a few no-name easy-to-detect shills in certain hot national security and geopolitical topics, sure, but that's to be expected.
- vox_mollis 11y ago
  Again, naming usernames is asking for a hellban. But a good proportion of prior threads on the topics of NSA surveillance, silk road (or tor in general), CISA, FBI/prosecutorial overreach, etc - has certain somebodies reliably pull the Frank Drebben "nothing to see here" routine regarding abuses of authority. The shilling that gets upvoted is rarely overt. It's almost always of the "this isn't so bad, citizen, carry on" or "criminals deserve it" variety that dramatically understates or deflects the threat posed to us by authority.
  - pdkl95 11y ago
    Also without naming usernames... I've definitely seen this. This includes a handful of threads discussing legitimate concerns about BULLRUN-style influence that were suddenly insta-flagged, punted from the front page and hidden form the main index[1] by those same shills. Several times the "nothing to see here" explanation took the form of a sudden concern for "not wanting to tarnish someone's reputation". [1] which means moderator access edit: Anybody that thinks this is unlikely needs to watch PHK's "Operation Orchestra": https://archive.fosdem.org/2014/schedule/event/nsa_operation_orchestra/ https://archive.fosdem.org/2014/schedule/event/nsa_operation...
    - cryoshon 11y ago
      This is a fascinating piece, thank you for sharing.

cryoshon 11y ago

Can you say more about the high powered shilling for authority that happens on HN? I've been around for quite a while and I can't say that I've seen such a thing... maybe a few no-name easy-to-detect shills in certain hot national security and geopolitical topics, sure, but that's to be expected.

vox_mollis 11y ago
Again, naming usernames is asking for a hellban. But a good proportion of prior threads on the topics of NSA surveillance, silk road (or tor in general), CISA, FBI/prosecutorial overreach, etc - has certain somebodies reliably pull the Frank Drebben "nothing to see here" routine regarding abuses of authority. The shilling that gets upvoted is rarely overt. It's almost always of the "this isn't so bad, citizen, carry on" or "criminals deserve it" variety that dramatically understates or deflects the threat posed to us by authority.
- pdkl95 11y ago
  Also without naming usernames... I've definitely seen this. This includes a handful of threads discussing legitimate concerns about BULLRUN-style influence that were suddenly insta-flagged, punted from the front page and hidden form the main index[1] by those same shills. Several times the "nothing to see here" explanation took the form of a sudden concern for "not wanting to tarnish someone's reputation". [1] which means moderator access edit: Anybody that thinks this is unlikely needs to watch PHK's "Operation Orchestra": https://archive.fosdem.org/2014/schedule/event/nsa_operation_orchestra/ https://archive.fosdem.org/2014/schedule/event/nsa_operation...
  - cryoshon 11y ago
    This is a fascinating piece, thank you for sharing.