4 ms·

Any post having to do with YC, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, etc are voting ringed to hell by their thousands of employees. As the site has grown, HN has

Any post having to do with YC, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, etc are voting ringed to hell by their thousands of employees. As the site has grown, HN has become a bit of a mouthpiece for large organizations through these de facto voting rings. Best idea I have is for HN to add a profile field like: "Organizations: [google]" which would prevent voting on any Google-related submissions. It could also add a disclaimer in each comment of these submissions, so users wouldn't have to remember to do that.

tannhaeuser 9y ago
> HN has become a bit of a mouthpiece for large organizations In don't mind (in fact, appreciate) this aspect of HN as long as it's done openly and civilized. > Best idea I have is for HN to add a profile field like: "Organizations: [google]" which would prevent voting on any Google-related submissions. It could also add a disclaimer in each comment these submissions, so users wouldn't have to remember to do that. That's a brilliant idea.
ben_jones 9y ago
It isn't even malicious - just a natural tendency people have. Like favoriting your friends picture on instagram even if it doesn't look too flattering. I love that suggestion, but how would you validate it? Registering company domains would be an exhaustive process.
- zzzcpan 9y ago
  Or just punish big brand submissions slightly, to make it fairer for everyone else.
- staunch 9y ago
  Agreed that it's not malicious. But it is insidious and should be prevented. There's only a half dozen large Silicon Valley orgs worth worrying about. Maybe a dozen domains.
bryanlarsen 9y ago
All of the listed corporations also have a large number of fanboys and haters, so are going to attract a large number of votes even if employees abstain.
stephenr 9y ago
Changing or removing the downvote button would be a simpler, better fix.

4 ms·

Any post having to do with YC, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, etc are voting ringed to hell by their thousands of employees. As the site has grown, HN has

by staunch 9y ago

tannhaeuser 9y ago
> HN has become a bit of a mouthpiece for large organizations In don't mind (in fact, appreciate) this aspect of HN as long as it's done openly and civilized. > Best idea I have is for HN to add a profile field like: "Organizations: [google]" which would prevent voting on any Google-related submissions. It could also add a disclaimer in each comment these submissions, so users wouldn't have to remember to do that. That's a brilliant idea.
ben_jones 9y ago
It isn't even malicious - just a natural tendency people have. Like favoriting your friends picture on instagram even if it doesn't look too flattering. I love that suggestion, but how would you validate it? Registering company domains would be an exhaustive process.
- zzzcpan 9y ago
  Or just punish big brand submissions slightly, to make it fairer for everyone else.
- staunch 9y ago
  Agreed that it's not malicious. But it is insidious and should be prevented. There's only a half dozen large Silicon Valley orgs worth worrying about. Maybe a dozen domains.
bryanlarsen 9y ago
All of the listed corporations also have a large number of fanboys and haters, so are going to attract a large number of votes even if employees abstain.
stephenr 9y ago
Changing or removing the downvote button would be a simpler, better fix.