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But what am I endorsing? I haven't tried the product myself yet. It's not unethical, but it's also simply not something I'm prepared to do - I will not recommen
by untog 9y ago
But what am I endorsing? I haven't tried the product myself yet. It's not unethical, but it's also simply not something I'm prepared to do - I will not recommend something to anyone without having been able to evaluate it myself first.
- lisper 9y agoThis. In a world where publishing is essentially free, reputation is an extremely valuable commodity. The ask here is not trivial.
- DrScump 9y agoreputation is an extremely valuable commodity But how does pre-use endorsement have any actual value toward a positive reputation? Did the definition of "reputation" change when I wasn't watching?
- lisper 9y agoWhenever anyone makes a recommendation you have to ask yourself: is this person making this recommendation because they have actually investigated the thing they are recommending and found it to have merit, or are they doing it simply because they are getting some personal benefit from making the recommendation. I hope I don't have to explain why a recommendation has much more value in the former case than the latter. This may not matter much if the thing you're recommending is an email client. But it matters a lot if the thing you're recommending is, say, an investment in a startup company. It also matters a lot if you're, say, Amazon or Yelp or TripAdvisor and a big part of your stock in trade is an enormous volume of product recommendations.
- nobodyaccount 9y agoYes, it is trivial. You have a warped perspective of importance if you think giving the nod to a new mail app is some holy thing. I tell my friends about new apps, startups, and projects all the time. None of them think I'm staking my reputation when I shitpost about some new thing in Slack.
- lisper 9y ago> Yes, it is trivial. Then why are you posting anonymously?
- dvfjsdhgfv 9y agoWe are different. If I recommend a piece of software to someone these days, it means it's truly exceptional and they should really check it out. Apart from that, the e-mail form doesn't let me control what I'm sending.
- mr_overalls 9y agoRecommending a product you haven't reviewed is a form of lying. Some of us value our integrity.
- eevilspock 9y agoIsn’t this true of all advertising, except in the rare cases where the publisher only accepts ads for products they endorsed? How can we ever expect a reliable, non-garbage-dominate internet when it is funded by perverse incentives?
- lgas 9y agoThe distinction is that if I see a billboard (or magazine ad, or TV commercial) advertising a product I don't think that I have a relationship with the billboard and they know me pretty well and have my best interests at heart... so I don't think that if this particular billboard that knows me so well is promoting a product to me then it must be a pretty good product for me (especially because this billboard doesn't usually go out of their way to recommend products to me). But if a friend of mine recommends a product to me, well, I do think all of those things.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- nobodyaccount 9y agoLiterally, nobody said to do that. Good lord, are you aware of nuance? You can make people aware of something that looks promising, without lying.
- appleiigs 9y agoThen don’t refer anyone. Or maybe only send to your friends who a new email client would interest? Is “hey, saw this on HN, this looks interesting” really going to hurt your reputation? He’s a dev trying to market, that’s all.
- c0smic 9y agoI was going to say this. It's totally optional to invite more people, so if it goes against your ethical views, just don't.
- hedora 9y agoYeah, but by engaging in this behavior, the dev has convinced me this whole thing is click spam, so I’m done evaluating it before I even downloaded it.