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Maybe... There are a lot of non-China + reasonable comments there, but anything related to China is too close to the party line and framed in such a way as to s

Maybe... There are a lot of non-China + reasonable comments there, but anything related to China is too close to the party line and framed in such a way as to suggest they know how to frame propaganda well. I find it hard to believe that China (like Russia) isn't conducting a "spread propaganda through comments" campaign and has not identified HN as a key opinionmaker in the tech industry.

jacquesm 9y ago
You'd be surprised how incredibly pervasive such views are with the Chinese and also with Chinese emigrants. Being exposed to state media for two decades will do funny stuff to your head it is not that you then move to the West and suddenly you see clearly. I know a few people who went this route and we can talk about many things but some bits are remarkably resilient in the face of having access to more facts. I'm sure there are people that fit your description but unless you have proof I don't think you should make such accusations.
- dave_sullivan 9y ago
  These campaigns do exist, so the question is "Where are the bots?" Look to the people with opinions and phrasing that parallel the government, like happened with Trump/Russia/Wikileaks coordination. They also pepper the account with many unrelated comments. They're usually impossible to verify as a person. And they don't make arguments, they make deflections. Aim of propaganda today is to muddy the conversation, cast doubt, prevent consensus. So look for those patterns.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14753932 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14753932
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - dave_sullivan 9y ago
      Fair enough, that is the trouble with witch hunts...
  - CPLX 9y ago
    Out of curiosity, I scrolled through a dozen pages or so of this posters comment history and your assessment of him seems highly unsupported. He's self-described as a person of Chinese descent living in the west since birth (Canada I believe) and is a developer who comments on developer type discussions. In other words, a typical HN contributor. You should be aware that governments, even ones you disagree with, are composed of actual people, and that it's quite possible for people to have a consistent worldview that closely tracks a government's perceived worldview without actually being agents of that government.
    - dave_sullivan 9y ago
      Yeah, you might be right. I re-read all his comments. Consistent enough. Probably not a bot, just a false equivalency expert. I am being overly paranoid.
sctb 9y ago
Please don't bring accusations of shillage or astroturfing without evidence. It always weakens the discussion terribly. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15017451 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15017451 and marked it off-topic.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Thank you Scott.

jacquesm 9y ago

You'd be surprised how incredibly pervasive such views are with the Chinese and also with Chinese emigrants. Being exposed to state media for two decades will do funny stuff to your head it is not that you then move to the West and suddenly you see clearly. I know a few people who went this route and we can talk about many things but some bits are remarkably resilient in the face of having access to more facts. I'm sure there are people that fit your description but unless you have proof I don't think you should make such accusations.

dave_sullivan 9y ago
These campaigns do exist, so the question is "Where are the bots?" Look to the people with opinions and phrasing that parallel the government, like happened with Trump/Russia/Wikileaks coordination. They also pepper the account with many unrelated comments. They're usually impossible to verify as a person. And they don't make arguments, they make deflections. Aim of propaganda today is to muddy the conversation, cast doubt, prevent consensus. So look for those patterns.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14753932 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14753932
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - dave_sullivan 9y ago
    Fair enough, that is the trouble with witch hunts...
- CPLX 9y ago
  Out of curiosity, I scrolled through a dozen pages or so of this posters comment history and your assessment of him seems highly unsupported. He's self-described as a person of Chinese descent living in the west since birth (Canada I believe) and is a developer who comments on developer type discussions. In other words, a typical HN contributor. You should be aware that governments, even ones you disagree with, are composed of actual people, and that it's quite possible for people to have a consistent worldview that closely tracks a government's perceived worldview without actually being agents of that government.
  - dave_sullivan 9y ago
    Yeah, you might be right. I re-read all his comments. Consistent enough. Probably not a bot, just a false equivalency expert. I am being overly paranoid.

sctb 9y ago

Please don't bring accusations of shillage or astroturfing without evidence. It always weakens the discussion terribly. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15017451 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15017451 and marked it off-topic.

jacquesm 9y ago
Thank you Scott.