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> these are the types of things we do several times a day now And this type of marketing posing as news, pushed to the front page by bots and fake accounts is

by imron 9y ago

> these are the types of things we do several times a day now And this type of marketing posing as news, pushed to the front page by bots and fake accounts is precisely why /r/politics is now a shitbed. Thanks Hack-PR.

slg 9y ago
Why would you consider this isolated to /r/politics? This happens on every subreddit that is big enough to have value in reaching the targeted audience. That is one of the many reasons why the best subreddits are usually the ones with the smallest communities.
- imron 9y ago
  > Why would you consider this isolated to /r/politics? That was the one mentioned in the article and that is a subreddit that has been particularly awful since basically the entire last US election campaign.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- rhizome 9y ago
  The point isn't that it's just /r/politics, it's that this organization's announcement of their behavior is an advertisement for their services.
  - imron 9y ago
    Note also their closing line: we’re going to begin publishing articles like this to outline what we are doing that’s working so others can do the same Wonderful.
jchw 9y ago
It's why virtually any /r/all'd subreddit is a shitbed and has been for years. And to be honest, there's absolutely no chance it's just Reddit. People are cheating everywhere. Anyone with weak morals and either excess money or enough desperation is buying fake social engagement in hopes to find more real social engagement. And by doing this, it's ensuring that the playing field is not level for naturally going viral. Not that any of this isn't obvious, but blaming Hack-PR for one of the older internet tricks is a bit unfair. They're just one of the few shameless enough to simply say it with zero guilt.
- imron 9y ago
  > but blaming Hack-PR for one of the older internet tricks is a bit unfair I know it's not solely their fault. Just like people don't really blame Obama when they say 'Thanks Obama', I wasn't putting all the blame on Hack-PR when I said 'Thanks Hack-PR'.
Zpalmtree 9y ago
I've not used /r/politics but I imagine it'd be pretty shitty even without bots, politics is too polarizing, unless you have a echo chamber, which removes the point of it being a general politics subreddit.
- microwavecamera 9y ago
  I'm not a big participator on /r/politics but I do follow it to keep up on the news and overall it's not that bad surprisingly. For being politics related and on reddit the mods do a decent job at keeping it civil, which I'm sure is no easy task.
ajhurliman 9y ago
Hack-PR is far from the only player in the game. Online news and media were taken over by duplicitous actors a long time ago.

by imron 9y ago

slg 9y ago

Why would you consider this isolated to /r/politics? This happens on every subreddit that is big enough to have value in reaching the targeted audience. That is one of the many reasons why the best subreddits are usually the ones with the smallest communities.

imron 9y ago
> Why would you consider this isolated to /r/politics? That was the one mentioned in the article and that is a subreddit that has been particularly awful since basically the entire last US election campaign.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
rhizome 9y ago
The point isn't that it's just /r/politics, it's that this organization's announcement of their behavior is an advertisement for their services.
- imron 9y ago
  Note also their closing line: we’re going to begin publishing articles like this to outline what we are doing that’s working so others can do the same Wonderful.

jchw 9y ago

It's why virtually any /r/all'd subreddit is a shitbed and has been for years. And to be honest, there's absolutely no chance it's just Reddit. People are cheating everywhere. Anyone with weak morals and either excess money or enough desperation is buying fake social engagement in hopes to find more real social engagement. And by doing this, it's ensuring that the playing field is not level for naturally going viral. Not that any of this isn't obvious, but blaming Hack-PR for one of the older internet tricks is a bit unfair. They're just one of the few shameless enough to simply say it with zero guilt.

imron 9y ago
> but blaming Hack-PR for one of the older internet tricks is a bit unfair I know it's not solely their fault. Just like people don't really blame Obama when they say 'Thanks Obama', I wasn't putting all the blame on Hack-PR when I said 'Thanks Hack-PR'.

Zpalmtree 9y ago

I've not used /r/politics but I imagine it'd be pretty shitty even without bots, politics is too polarizing, unless you have a echo chamber, which removes the point of it being a general politics subreddit.

microwavecamera 9y ago
I'm not a big participator on /r/politics but I do follow it to keep up on the news and overall it's not that bad surprisingly. For being politics related and on reddit the mods do a decent job at keeping it civil, which I'm sure is no easy task.

ajhurliman 9y ago

Hack-PR is far from the only player in the game. Online news and media were taken over by duplicitous actors a long time ago.