3 ms·

> Just a side comment, I feel like Hacker News is going this way with Facebook a little. In slashdot, PR companies working for Microsoft were operating dozens

> Just a side comment, I feel like Hacker News is going this way with Facebook a little. In slashdot, PR companies working for Microsoft were operating dozens of sock puppet accounts to post copy-paste messages extolling the company for its perfection, and praising each and every single product they were announcing. Slashdotters became aware of the problem, and what appeared to be a deep collusion between those PR companies and slashdot itself to keep pushing that propaganda while persecuting vocal critics who raised attention to the problem, and started to nurture a profound dislike for the whole affair. Some people may not like Facebook, but HN is far from the path that slashdot was driven into.

serf 9y ago
>In slashdot, PR companies working for Microsoft were operating dozens of sock puppet accounts to post copy-paste messages extolling the company for its perfection, and praising each and every single product they were announcing the more things change the more they stay the same. It's not a winnable bet (at least right now), but i'd wager that groups are doing that right this very second, even here. Techies are an important group to influence, and there are a lot of interests here. The level of discourse and discussion is fairly high here, but don't let that trick you into the naiveté that folks with vested interests here are any more honest than they are anywhere else in the world or on the net.
j_s 9y ago
Can you link to any examples? I'm curious as I don't remember things as being that bad - no expectations of any unwanted research just for my sake though!
mindcrime 9y ago
Some people may not like Facebook, but HN is far from the path that slashdot was driven into. Perhaps, but I have no doubt that there are a substantial number of sock puppet accounts running loose here. I just wish I had enough free time to try and prove it using text analytics. Then again, I'm not sure it would make any difference anyway.

serf 9y ago

>In slashdot, PR companies working for Microsoft were operating dozens of sock puppet accounts to post copy-paste messages extolling the company for its perfection, and praising each and every single product they were announcing the more things change the more they stay the same. It's not a winnable bet (at least right now), but i'd wager that groups are doing that right this very second, even here. Techies are an important group to influence, and there are a lot of interests here. The level of discourse and discussion is fairly high here, but don't let that trick you into the naiveté that folks with vested interests here are any more honest than they are anywhere else in the world or on the net.

j_s 9y ago

Can you link to any examples? I'm curious as I don't remember things as being that bad - no expectations of any unwanted research just for my sake though!

mindcrime 9y ago

Some people may not like Facebook, but HN is far from the path that slashdot was driven into. Perhaps, but I have no doubt that there are a substantial number of sock puppet accounts running loose here. I just wish I had enough free time to try and prove it using text analytics. Then again, I'm not sure it would make any difference anyway.