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The fact that this is upvoted to #3 on HN gives me grave misgivings about the future of HN. --- Edit: apparently y'all disagree, and think this is a topic tha

The fact that this is upvoted to #3 on HN gives me grave misgivings about the future of HN. --- Edit: apparently y'all disagree, and think this is a topic that deserves the full attention of HN. Can someone explain why? Isn't it just a crackpot billboard? What's the importance?

ry_ry 10y ago
Although I suspect that if the tech crowd embraced this instead of weirdly ambiguous billboard, we'd quickly have several different competing definitions of 'free' and half a dozen rival working groups speccing the next iteration of freedom! ;)
Blahah 10y ago
In the UK, we don't really have 'crackpot billboards'. Billboards are actually quite rare compared to in the USA, and they are regulated for accuracy and to prevent fraud. I noticed these billboards and have never seen anything like it in 30 years in the UK. Discussing what's behind them is interesting I think.
- bencollier49 10y ago
  Agreed, I can't think of anything like this in the UK before. The closest thing to this previously has been advertising for fundie christian stuff, and that's quite rare. I agree with the earlier commenter who said the ASA ought to strike the ads for factual inaccuracy.
  - Symbiote 10y ago
    My guess is it will turn out to be a marketing campaign for a film.
- stevetrewick 10y ago
  Absolutely. My thought on seeing this was 'Oh hey, the internets are leaking again'. This is really fringe stuff and it's just fascinating to see it bleeding through into the mainstream. Especially by big ass meme carrying billboards. And the design is fascinating. No links, for instance. You see the sign and it piques your interest because it mentions names - which you have, and fraud - which you're worried about. You then either go about your business and just forget about it or you google 'legal name fraud' and bam! There you are in the scary backwaters of the internet immersed in someone's weird memes. A curiosity trap. Physical billboards are (AFAIK) a new vector for this particular meme. And billboard ads cost around £200 a week in the UK (last time I checked) so this has cost someone, somewhere some money. Given the tendency of FoL/SC/etc believers to try avoiding debts with Jedi mind tricks, it's possible that 'someone' is the firm leasing the signage, but still, it's interesting.
Retra 10y ago
I'm not sure why you're concerned about the future of HN enough to comment on it. What's your goal?
chippy 10y ago
the news guidelines may answer your question in your edit https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

ry_ry 10y ago

Although I suspect that if the tech crowd embraced this instead of weirdly ambiguous billboard, we'd quickly have several different competing definitions of 'free' and half a dozen rival working groups speccing the next iteration of freedom! ;)

Blahah 10y ago

In the UK, we don't really have 'crackpot billboards'. Billboards are actually quite rare compared to in the USA, and they are regulated for accuracy and to prevent fraud. I noticed these billboards and have never seen anything like it in 30 years in the UK. Discussing what's behind them is interesting I think.

bencollier49 10y ago
Agreed, I can't think of anything like this in the UK before. The closest thing to this previously has been advertising for fundie christian stuff, and that's quite rare. I agree with the earlier commenter who said the ASA ought to strike the ads for factual inaccuracy.
- Symbiote 10y ago
  My guess is it will turn out to be a marketing campaign for a film.
stevetrewick 10y ago
Absolutely. My thought on seeing this was 'Oh hey, the internets are leaking again'. This is really fringe stuff and it's just fascinating to see it bleeding through into the mainstream. Especially by big ass meme carrying billboards. And the design is fascinating. No links, for instance. You see the sign and it piques your interest because it mentions names - which you have, and fraud - which you're worried about. You then either go about your business and just forget about it or you google 'legal name fraud' and bam! There you are in the scary backwaters of the internet immersed in someone's weird memes. A curiosity trap. Physical billboards are (AFAIK) a new vector for this particular meme. And billboard ads cost around £200 a week in the UK (last time I checked) so this has cost someone, somewhere some money. Given the tendency of FoL/SC/etc believers to try avoiding debts with Jedi mind tricks, it's possible that 'someone' is the firm leasing the signage, but still, it's interesting.

Retra 10y ago

I'm not sure why you're concerned about the future of HN enough to comment on it. What's your goal?

chippy 10y ago

the news guidelines may answer your question in your edit https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html