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At least the users flag gender and race based submissions organically or so I have noticed. Try submitting anything here that criticizes China, Russia, India o

At least the users flag gender and race based submissions organically or so I have noticed. Try submitting anything here that criticizes China, Russia, India or Israel and watch an army of accounts flag your submission. They seem to have the hallmarks of a state sponsored clean up, especially true on the subject of China.

yesenadam 8y ago
>the hallmarks of a state sponsored clean up Really? Hmm...I just assumed it meant there's a lot of anti-China news in the USA these days.
jaabe 8y ago
Isn’t it basically an established fact that at least Russia has exactly that? I know linking to wiki isn’t exactly scientific, but the article contains a lot of decent source references and it’s easier to just post one link. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency I’m sure other countries have something similar, but I’m not sure it’s been as well examination as with the Russians.
- yesenadam 8y ago
  Wow, that's an amazing story... All those rallies in 2016 in the USA organized by Russian trolls.. Why just 2016? (Apart from that they evidently wanted Trump) Not before or since..Has it stopped?
  - jaabe 8y ago
    I read a story about in a Danish paper, maybe half a year back. I can’t find the link for it unfortunately, but the general consensus is that it hasn’t stopped at all. It also outlined how it was affecting everyone. Basically those troll factories will post a bunch of stuff in various internet communities, and then they’ll use data analytics to see what worked and double down on the susceptible communities. The journalists and their scientific sources weren’t able to find a specific agenda outside of “Russia good, west bad”, because they’d target everything from debates on avocado toasts to making political sides hate each other. I personally think that is what is so dangerous about it. I mean, looking beyond governments there is a massive application possibility for this in hidden advertising, and how can you really tell if a person on HN is authentic or on some agenda?
    - thinkingemote 8y ago
      Your last sentence reminds me of a common comment on the subreddit hailcorporate. If people talk about brands authentically they become ads. just because people submit things that look like ads doesn't mean they are paid to do so. If we invest a couple thousand each year in Apple devices and use them every day is our opinion about Apple authentic or are we a self driving autonomous advertisment for Apple?
      - yesenadam 8y ago
        Yeah, I also don't like that word 'agenda'. Like "That person has an agenda".. it seems akin to 'bias' - they're mental diseases only other people have. "I'm passionate, he has an agenda." They're fallacies, I think. They do the magical job of lifting oneself up to a superior, more scientific, objective footing, just by saying the words, turning mere disagreement into victory. "You're biased" - (and I'm not - I win). "You have an agenda" - (and I don't - so I win). Also it assumes you have good reasons for your beliefs while the other person doesn't. Which really isn't assuming good faith, or good anything. It's surprising that tactic wasn't exploded and permanently run out of town long ago. Don't get me started on "authentic"! :-)
dsl 8y ago
HN has a very diverse user base, many of which love their countries of origin dearly. What is sometimes seen as organized behavior, often grows organically. Because HN does not expose downvotes to users with less than 500 karma, flagging becomes the "I disagree" button.
- chopin 8y ago
  You can't downvote articles, even if you have 500 karma.
- jaclaz 8y ago
  Yes, but it is a very inappropriate "I disagree". Or, maybe better, it is "I disagree and thus you shut up". :( EDIT: In the meantime, I "vouched" for the article and read it (for the sake of "freedom of speech"). Though it doesn't "deserve" IMHO to be "flagged" it is all in all a "plug" for a book (that from the excerpt in the article doesn't sound as a good one).
krageon 8y ago
It might also just be because people are tired of reading the frankly propagandic news about other countries that whatever country decides to spew today. It's not very stimulating to read yet another hit piece on some country or other (that yes, maybe we know does bad things - but I come here to read about novel stuff, not to have the same thought reinforced 4000 times per week).

yesenadam 8y ago

>the hallmarks of a state sponsored clean up Really? Hmm...I just assumed it meant there's a lot of anti-China news in the USA these days.

jaabe 8y ago

Isn’t it basically an established fact that at least Russia has exactly that? I know linking to wiki isn’t exactly scientific, but the article contains a lot of decent source references and it’s easier to just post one link. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency I’m sure other countries have something similar, but I’m not sure it’s been as well examination as with the Russians.

yesenadam 8y ago
Wow, that's an amazing story... All those rallies in 2016 in the USA organized by Russian trolls.. Why just 2016? (Apart from that they evidently wanted Trump) Not before or since..Has it stopped?
- jaabe 8y ago
  I read a story about in a Danish paper, maybe half a year back. I can’t find the link for it unfortunately, but the general consensus is that it hasn’t stopped at all. It also outlined how it was affecting everyone. Basically those troll factories will post a bunch of stuff in various internet communities, and then they’ll use data analytics to see what worked and double down on the susceptible communities. The journalists and their scientific sources weren’t able to find a specific agenda outside of “Russia good, west bad”, because they’d target everything from debates on avocado toasts to making political sides hate each other. I personally think that is what is so dangerous about it. I mean, looking beyond governments there is a massive application possibility for this in hidden advertising, and how can you really tell if a person on HN is authentic or on some agenda?
  - thinkingemote 8y ago
    Your last sentence reminds me of a common comment on the subreddit hailcorporate. If people talk about brands authentically they become ads. just because people submit things that look like ads doesn't mean they are paid to do so. If we invest a couple thousand each year in Apple devices and use them every day is our opinion about Apple authentic or are we a self driving autonomous advertisment for Apple?
    - yesenadam 8y ago
      Yeah, I also don't like that word 'agenda'. Like "That person has an agenda".. it seems akin to 'bias' - they're mental diseases only other people have. "I'm passionate, he has an agenda." They're fallacies, I think. They do the magical job of lifting oneself up to a superior, more scientific, objective footing, just by saying the words, turning mere disagreement into victory. "You're biased" - (and I'm not - I win). "You have an agenda" - (and I don't - so I win). Also it assumes you have good reasons for your beliefs while the other person doesn't. Which really isn't assuming good faith, or good anything. It's surprising that tactic wasn't exploded and permanently run out of town long ago. Don't get me started on "authentic"! :-)

dsl 8y ago

HN has a very diverse user base, many of which love their countries of origin dearly. What is sometimes seen as organized behavior, often grows organically. Because HN does not expose downvotes to users with less than 500 karma, flagging becomes the "I disagree" button.

chopin 8y ago
You can't downvote articles, even if you have 500 karma.
jaclaz 8y ago
Yes, but it is a very inappropriate "I disagree". Or, maybe better, it is "I disagree and thus you shut up". :( EDIT: In the meantime, I "vouched" for the article and read it (for the sake of "freedom of speech"). Though it doesn't "deserve" IMHO to be "flagged" it is all in all a "plug" for a book (that from the excerpt in the article doesn't sound as a good one).

krageon 8y ago

It might also just be because people are tired of reading the frankly propagandic news about other countries that whatever country decides to spew today. It's not very stimulating to read yet another hit piece on some country or other (that yes, maybe we know does bad things - but I come here to read about novel stuff, not to have the same thought reinforced 4000 times per week).