4 ms·

Instead of crazy conspiracy theories, how about this: USA Today isn't actually that popular, but some botnet programmer with an imperfect understanding of Ameri

by mrmcd 9y ago

Instead of crazy conspiracy theories, how about this: USA Today isn't actually that popular, but some botnet programmer with an imperfect understanding of American culture thought it was a brand ordinary Americans all love and read regularly. So they were all instructed to follow their page in an attempt to make the bots look legit.

draw_down 9y ago
Ok, why is that more plausible than USA Today buying fake page views? Why is that such a crazy conspiracy theory?
- treehau5 9y ago
  One stakes the reputation of an entire company, and one is as easy as a script kiddie setting up a bot.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - zeta0134 9y ago
    A lot of people seem to think that setting up a botnet is difficult, and it's very surprising when you decide to research and actually do it. It's ridiculously easy. You can rent out established botnets with almost no effort, and if you can run payloads on compromised internet-enabled devices, you can set up your own and coordinate it without much fuss. This is a big problem that no one really knows how to solve.
    - andrewfong 9y ago
      I wonder if there's a way to build a bot net that takes down other bot nets. Basically, create a feedback loop such that the decreasing price of a bot net leads to some action that drives the price back up.
  - 67726e 9y ago
    I mean, look at the shenanigans Wells Fargo gets caught up in, which are worse than "buying likes" bot activity. Is it that unbelievable some manager with a bonus tied up in vanity metrics would use bots to boost them?
- loeg 9y ago
  They reported the unexpected activity from foreign countries to Facebook themselves. I don't think they were in on it. > The purge of such accounts culminated a six-month effort by Facebook to combat the scam, which routed faux profiles through Bangladesh, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. > ... > The USA Today spokeswoman told CJR that they flagged the issue for Facebook after noticing an unusually large uptick in followers from the aforementioned countries. “Since we first brought this issue to Facebook’s attention, we have been in close communication with them and look forward to a swift solution that prevents this illegitimate activity from happening on our Facebook page in the future,” Maribel Wadsworth, Gannett’s chief transformation officer, told USA Today Friday.
  - taysic 9y ago
    When sites pay other services to increase their fb likes, they are always from other countries for some reason. Because in this case the payer only wants to see the actual like count go up. Not saying we have proof that they did this.
- blazespin 9y ago
  Because that is an illegal / unethical business practice which would severely tarnish their reputation?
  - WillPostForFood 9y ago
    Assuming they even know what they are doing.
- avs733 9y ago
  because it's less depressing. I'm proposing a corollary to Occam's razor called avs postulate: 1) The likelihood of an explanation being true is correlated with how boring it is 2) crazy conspiracy theories are a useful exercise with which to guide convergence and formal presentation of evidence of 1.
  - bjshepard 9y ago
    The avs postulate fails to explain the explanation of the events of november, 1963, and is therefore falsified.
loeg 9y ago
That was my first thought as well. Bots just looking for a page with "USA" in it.
remarkEon 9y ago
USA Today has the highest circulation in traditional newspapers. Not really sure why that is, but my guess would be that they have some enduring relationships with hotel/motel chains. It's definitely a brand that resonates. Source: https://www.infoplease.com/arts-entertainment/newspapers-and-magazines/top-100-newspapers-united-states https://www.infoplease.com/arts-entertainment/newspapers-and...
- hackbinary 9y ago
  And airlines.
- akinalci 9y ago
  It's a generic newspaper without a regional focus, unlike the NY Times, LA Times, etc. It's distributed nationally, and it's popular with travelers and companies who cater to travelers (airlines, airport kiosks, hotels, etc).
- tgb 9y ago
  USA Today was the first newspaper of its kind. Flashier, more concise, graphic-laden news. A larger focus on celebrity, entertainment, etc. news. From wikipedia on USA Today: "derided by critics, who referred to it as "McPaper" or "television you can wrap fish in," ". It was the Buzzfeed of its time.
  - pducks32 9y ago
    I never really thought of that but that is a fantastic analogy.
    - DonHopkins 9y ago
      USA Toady: for people who think television news is too complicated.
- yeldarb 9y ago
  Our city's paper focuses exclusively on local and regional issues and includes a USA Today section to cover national stories. I suspect a lot of smaller metros' papers do the same. Specifically those owned by Gannett: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gannett_Company_assets#Newspapers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gannett_Company_asse...
SL61 9y ago
This is what immediately crossed my mind too. I have talked to quite a few people from other countries who assumed that USA Today is our foremost national paper, like the American Der Spiegel. I have no idea where the idea comes from though.
- emmelaich 9y ago
  Because it's ubiquitous and small enough to conveniently carry. Source: I visited USA for the first time recently. It's also of a much higher* quality than I expected. It's got something for everyone. * my expectations were very low
- dagw 9y ago
  I have no idea where the idea comes from though. It is one of the only newspaper of note without a city name in the title. Also it is one of the best selling newspapers in the US.
- WhiteSource1 9y ago
  I went to American University and it has a huge number of international students, both because of its location in DC and also because of its name, they thought it was the national university.
Nition 9y ago
My thoughts too. It's also something that might come up if you were searching for "USA" pages that had lots of likes already.

by mrmcd 9y ago

draw_down 9y ago

Ok, why is that more plausible than USA Today buying fake page views? Why is that such a crazy conspiracy theory?

treehau5 9y ago
One stakes the reputation of an entire company, and one is as easy as a script kiddie setting up a bot.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- zeta0134 9y ago
  A lot of people seem to think that setting up a botnet is difficult, and it's very surprising when you decide to research and actually do it. It's ridiculously easy. You can rent out established botnets with almost no effort, and if you can run payloads on compromised internet-enabled devices, you can set up your own and coordinate it without much fuss. This is a big problem that no one really knows how to solve.
  - andrewfong 9y ago
    I wonder if there's a way to build a bot net that takes down other bot nets. Basically, create a feedback loop such that the decreasing price of a bot net leads to some action that drives the price back up.
- 67726e 9y ago
  I mean, look at the shenanigans Wells Fargo gets caught up in, which are worse than "buying likes" bot activity. Is it that unbelievable some manager with a bonus tied up in vanity metrics would use bots to boost them?
loeg 9y ago
They reported the unexpected activity from foreign countries to Facebook themselves. I don't think they were in on it. > The purge of such accounts culminated a six-month effort by Facebook to combat the scam, which routed faux profiles through Bangladesh, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. > ... > The USA Today spokeswoman told CJR that they flagged the issue for Facebook after noticing an unusually large uptick in followers from the aforementioned countries. “Since we first brought this issue to Facebook’s attention, we have been in close communication with them and look forward to a swift solution that prevents this illegitimate activity from happening on our Facebook page in the future,” Maribel Wadsworth, Gannett’s chief transformation officer, told USA Today Friday.
- taysic 9y ago
  When sites pay other services to increase their fb likes, they are always from other countries for some reason. Because in this case the payer only wants to see the actual like count go up. Not saying we have proof that they did this.
blazespin 9y ago
Because that is an illegal / unethical business practice which would severely tarnish their reputation?
- WillPostForFood 9y ago
  Assuming they even know what they are doing.
avs733 9y ago
because it's less depressing. I'm proposing a corollary to Occam's razor called avs postulate: 1) The likelihood of an explanation being true is correlated with how boring it is 2) crazy conspiracy theories are a useful exercise with which to guide convergence and formal presentation of evidence of 1.
- bjshepard 9y ago
  The avs postulate fails to explain the explanation of the events of november, 1963, and is therefore falsified.

loeg 9y ago

That was my first thought as well. Bots just looking for a page with "USA" in it.

remarkEon 9y ago

USA Today has the highest circulation in traditional newspapers. Not really sure why that is, but my guess would be that they have some enduring relationships with hotel/motel chains. It's definitely a brand that resonates. Source: https://www.infoplease.com/arts-entertainment/newspapers-and-magazines/top-100-newspapers-united-states https://www.infoplease.com/arts-entertainment/newspapers-and...

hackbinary 9y ago
And airlines.
akinalci 9y ago
It's a generic newspaper without a regional focus, unlike the NY Times, LA Times, etc. It's distributed nationally, and it's popular with travelers and companies who cater to travelers (airlines, airport kiosks, hotels, etc).
tgb 9y ago
USA Today was the first newspaper of its kind. Flashier, more concise, graphic-laden news. A larger focus on celebrity, entertainment, etc. news. From wikipedia on USA Today: "derided by critics, who referred to it as "McPaper" or "television you can wrap fish in," ". It was the Buzzfeed of its time.
- pducks32 9y ago
  I never really thought of that but that is a fantastic analogy.
  - DonHopkins 9y ago
    USA Toady: for people who think television news is too complicated.
yeldarb 9y ago
Our city's paper focuses exclusively on local and regional issues and includes a USA Today section to cover national stories. I suspect a lot of smaller metros' papers do the same. Specifically those owned by Gannett: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gannett_Company_assets#Newspapers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gannett_Company_asse...

SL61 9y ago

This is what immediately crossed my mind too. I have talked to quite a few people from other countries who assumed that USA Today is our foremost national paper, like the American Der Spiegel. I have no idea where the idea comes from though.

emmelaich 9y ago
Because it's ubiquitous and small enough to conveniently carry. Source: I visited USA for the first time recently. It's also of a much higher* quality than I expected. It's got something for everyone. * my expectations were very low
dagw 9y ago
I have no idea where the idea comes from though. It is one of the only newspaper of note without a city name in the title. Also it is one of the best selling newspapers in the US.
WhiteSource1 9y ago
I went to American University and it has a huge number of international students, both because of its location in DC and also because of its name, they thought it was the national university.

Nition 9y ago

My thoughts too. It's also something that might come up if you were searching for "USA" pages that had lots of likes already.