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FWIW I come to HN for the comments, not really for the articles. I think maybe half of us use HN this way. This is to say that the platform approach has the ad
by dlss 10y ago
FWIW I come to HN for the comments, not really for the articles. I think maybe half of us use HN this way.
This is to say that the platform approach has the advantage of allowing actually informed/skeptical/intelligent people to do the talking. They can discuss subjects they know, at their own pace. Contrast with traditional journalism, where even when things go right you're still dealing with someone who's reporting on things outside their profession, probably on a deadline, and beset by an industry (public relations) basically devoted to deceiving them.
This is to say I'm actually fairly sure the platform approach, at least from first principals, beats the traditional approach in terms of quality.
(On a side note, I just had an awful thought: are there PR people reaching out to the top HN authors?)
- CaptSpify 10y ago> (On a side note, I just had an awful thought: are there PR people reaching out to the top HN authors?) That definitely happens on other social new/media. I'm not sure why HN would be any different?
- WillPostForFood 10y agoWorse thought for you: top HN authors are paid PR people.
- neuland 10y agoI've seen this a lot on the internet, especially on Reddit. And, I'm not saying it doesn't happen. Native advertising is everywhere now-a-days. But, people are always vague on details, which makes me somewhat skeptical. I'd be interested to hear more information on how this works. Like, what U.S. companies are doing this (either PR companies doing the posting or their clients)? How much are they paying, and what kind of outcomes do they like to see? Like, how do they measure success? Does it work? etc.
- dredmorbius 10y agoSee https://reddit.com/r/hailcorporate https://reddit.com/r/hailcorporate Spottings of planted / submarine / astroturf pieces.
- neuland 10y agoOoh, thanks for the reminder about this subreddit. I've actually been there before and remember it being quite funny. Lots of examples of subtle (and not so subtle) product placement.
- morgante 10y agoDo you have any evidence for this outrageously false claim? I know several of the top commenters [0] and know they are absolutely not paid PR people. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders
- oh_sigh 10y agoReferencing 0 but not including it in your post doesn't hell your argument
- beachstartup 10y agohow do you define paid? out of the top, say, 100 commenters, how many are affiliated with YC in some way? startups in some way? startups discussed on YC in some way? this entire site (hacker news) is a PR platform for Y combinator, its startups, and the industry in general (as a special interest group). did you think it was a charity? there's nothing wrong with it but let's be real here, people.
- dredmorbius 10y agoCitation required.
- dictum 10y agoI can't speak for top HN authors, but that recent post about Pornhub bypassing ad blockers with websockets had me intrigued. So many comments were fawning over the porn industry — how fun it is to be a developer of porn sites and how innovative the industry is.
- ben_jones 10y agoI just think people wanted to be edgy and support porn tech because it's somewhat taboo. That said pornhub.com has a fantastic PR approach on sited like Reddit and Imgur, as well as good marketing in general (IMO) so it wouldn't surprise me either..
- seanwilson 10y ago> This is to say that the platform approach has the advantage of allowing actually informed/skeptical/intelligent people to do the talking. They can discuss subjects they know, at their own pace. Contrast with traditional journalism, where even when things go right you're still dealing with someone who's reporting on things outside their profession, probably on a deadline, and beset by an industry (public relations) basically devoted to deceiving them. I agree with this. At least with site comments you get to read a variety of viewpoints and viewpoints are actively criticised so if some facts or perspectives are dubious it's usually really obvious. This isn't true when you stick to one news article which is sometimes nothing better than a long-form comment if it's poor journalism anyway. There is the hive mind aspect with commenting communities which is bad but you get similar group think on news sites and you have to engage your critical thinking skills at some point.