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A lot of people don't seem to realize that being the top link on r/politics is a public good that's available to everyone. Just because someone pays $200 to ma
by logicallee 9y ago
A lot of people don't seem to realize that being the top link on r/politics is a public good that's available to everyone. Just because someone pays $200 to make some politician's publicity stunt that nobody cares about be the top link there (I mean really, nobody cared - the idea of a law forcing politicians to walk around wearing the logos of their top ten donors is beyond silly), doesn't mean that everyone else can't also be the top link there at the same time, with other publicity stunts nobody cares about!
The great thing about being a top link is everyone can do it at the same time. It doesn't corrupt the process at all or waste anyone's time. Everyone can benefit from it and it doesn't make things worse for anyone.
For example imagine if all the top links on hacker news were just corporate advertisements disguised as stories. Would it be a worse place or cause any of us harm? Of course not.
- scribu 9y ago> imagine if all the top links on hacker news were just corporate advertisements disguised as stories. Would it be a worse place or cause any of us harm? Of course not. Did you leave out the </sarcasm> tag by accident? How can the front page being topped with "publicity stunts nobody cares about" not make it a worse place?
- logicallee 9y agoof course, here: /s. Yes it was sarcastic. (I must say I'm a bit blown away that you think I require a sarcasm tag, though - I wrote that "everyone can be the top link", an obvious absurdity since how can everyone be the top link, and that hacker news wouldn't be any worse if every single link were a paid story. I didn't think I came even close to having to mark my comment as sarcastic, which I sometimes do.)
- croon 9y agoYou underestimate the levels of straight-faced absurdity of the last 6 months.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]