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johansch 11y ago
This is a pattern for new sites/services that suddenly get press and then get noticed in random aggregators (like HN). Since the site is new, it doesn't get that much attention from the aggregator's core audience, and any negative comments are swiftly downvoted after 10-20 employees register and downvote them via central command. This has happened to me on HN before; I guess because I take a perverse kind of enjoyment out of sabotaging astroturfing attempts. All of this makes perfect business sense; I would probably do it too if I were in this kind of position. It also makes sense for HN to build better defenses against attacks like this.
- dang 11y ago
  Only established users can downvote. It takes 500 karma. That's the highest threshold we have.
  - johansch 11y ago
    Ah. That's good. I guess that's why it has taken a couple of hours for my comments to heavily downvoted (comments that were initially quite heavily upvoted) in my previous attempts at smashing obvious astroturfs - their @all-employees mail needs to get to the employees who happen to have that amount of HN karma. I do realize that going further than this in terms of defenses would be quite a complicated thing.
    - striking 11y ago
      Or perhaps there are people who disagree with you, and are not affiliated with that company. People who think that accusations of astroturfing are actually pretty mean, and shouldn't be made without evidence. People like me.
      - DanBC 11y ago
        I also downvote accusations of shilling. As I understand it people should send those to the email address, and not dump them in the thread. I don't know if accusations of shilling are the kind of thing I should be flagging though.
        pvg 11y ago
        Without evidence beyond 'I don't like this person's views', which is just about all of them, I think they're reliably flagworthy.
        atomical 11y ago
        Are you accusing me of posting an accusation?
    - dang 11y ago
      I expect you're getting downvoted because you're pushing this too hard, making claims that exceed the evidence, and generally turning the thread into something less interesting. We share your dislike of astroturfing, but people who feel this way need to guard against their own biases as well. Taking the accusatory impulse too far is also destructive.
pbtflakes 11y ago
Created an account because my friends use it and I'm getting more involved with programming, no plans to astroturf involved. Though I have been thinking about a part-time job over the summer…
unimpressive 11y ago
Everybody makes their account for something, often a trivial comment they had on their mind.
dang 11y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11556411 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11556411 and marked it off-topic.

This is a pattern for new sites/services that suddenly get press and then get noticed in random aggregators (like HN). Since the site is new, it doesn't get that much attention from the aggregator's core audience, and any negative comments are swiftly downvoted after 10-20 employees register and downvote them via central command. This has happened to me on HN before; I guess because I take a perverse kind of enjoyment out of sabotaging astroturfing attempts. All of this makes perfect business sense; I would probably do it too if I were in this kind of position. It also makes sense for HN to build better defenses against attacks like this.

dang 11y ago
Only established users can downvote. It takes 500 karma. That's the highest threshold we have.
- johansch 11y ago
  Ah. That's good. I guess that's why it has taken a couple of hours for my comments to heavily downvoted (comments that were initially quite heavily upvoted) in my previous attempts at smashing obvious astroturfs - their @all-employees mail needs to get to the employees who happen to have that amount of HN karma. I do realize that going further than this in terms of defenses would be quite a complicated thing.
  - striking 11y ago
    Or perhaps there are people who disagree with you, and are not affiliated with that company. People who think that accusations of astroturfing are actually pretty mean, and shouldn't be made without evidence. People like me.
    - DanBC 11y ago
      I also downvote accusations of shilling. As I understand it people should send those to the email address, and not dump them in the thread. I don't know if accusations of shilling are the kind of thing I should be flagging though.
      - pvg 11y ago
        Without evidence beyond 'I don't like this person's views', which is just about all of them, I think they're reliably flagworthy.
      - atomical 11y ago
        Are you accusing me of posting an accusation?
  - dang 11y ago
    I expect you're getting downvoted because you're pushing this too hard, making claims that exceed the evidence, and generally turning the thread into something less interesting. We share your dislike of astroturfing, but people who feel this way need to guard against their own biases as well. Taking the accusatory impulse too far is also destructive.

pbtflakes 11y ago

Created an account because my friends use it and I'm getting more involved with programming, no plans to astroturf involved. Though I have been thinking about a part-time job over the summer…

unimpressive 11y ago

Everybody makes their account for something, often a trivial comment they had on their mind.

dang 11y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11556411 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11556411 and marked it off-topic.