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The Taiwan Flag Emoji topic got a lot of attention too. I think that's a fair spread. Censorship, Unicode standards, and Blizzard is kind of the expected over
by Timpy 7y ago
The Taiwan Flag Emoji topic got a lot of attention too. I think that's a fair spread. Censorship, Unicode standards, and Blizzard is kind of the expected overlap of interest topics for Hacker News.
- a_c 7y agoI realised the Emoji topic https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21182705 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21182705 after posting my comments. Blizzard, emoji, Hong Kong, and in part NBA too[1], once again shows how unpredictable viral-ness can be. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21176976 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21176976
- LeoNatan25 7y agoDon’t forget the well placed South Park episode to pour more gas on the fire.
- ehsankia 7y agoRight, general politics is not really in the wheelhouse for HN, but these two specific cases encroached on tech, which is why they got much more attention. Other acts of technological censorship from China also often reach the front page. I don't think there's anything nefarious, it's that those other topics aren't really relevant to HN.
- joelx 7y agoWe should all boycott Blizzard and the NBA.
- ergothus 7y agoAfter bnetd I boycotted Blizzard for years. The only tangible result was that I missed out on Warcraft 3. After the 1-click patent, I boycotted Amazon for years. They didn't appear to have missed my money. I'm all for collective action, but I'm not sure if boycotts are reliable. I've seen companies respond to social pressures, but like net neutrality, when they can make money they just try again more subtilely, and that presumes the original pressure was successful. I'm not saying we SHOULDN'T boycott Blizzard and the NBA...but do we have other options as well? Governmental action to be backing, companies with clear "good" positions we should promote, etc? I don't have ideas, I just have a pile of bitterness and hopelessness, and issues like Hong Kong feel a lot more important than 1 click.
- closetohome 7y agoI feel like there are different levels here. The Bnetd thing was unfortunate, but still an exceptionally first-world problem. People being beaten to death in the streets may warrant a bit wider reaction.
- echelon 7y agoThe parent poster isn't claiming that certain issues are more or less pressing than others. Rather, we, as ordinary citizens, have zero control. Individual acts of protest are not working and do not change these companies' behaviors.
- closetohome 7y agoAnd my point was that this has a better chance of success because the cause is more widely understandable and sympathetic than a lawsuit over IP.
- philipov 7y agoBoycotts only work when a reasonable number of people can make an impact on the bottom line of a corporation. Corporations have grown so large that the size of the group necessary to make that kind of impact is as large as a large corporation. Viral social media witch hunts can have that kind of impact, so if you want to organize a boycott, you better hire a PR company.
- praptak 7y agoBoycotting is the ethical thing to do but it almost never works. What works? I guess the same things that worked for women and blacks - enough people willing to stick their necks out and organise politically.
- bsder 7y ago> I'm all for collective action, but I'm not sure if boycotts are reliable. Boycott the Hearthstone streamers. Without the pros to tell the punters what the meta is and what cards to buy, the game dies out. While Blizzard won't notice a couple people leaving, streamers will notice even a couple of people telling them they are leaving their channel.
- iamaelephant 7y agoThe emoji topic has nothing to do with Unicode standards and everything to do with Apple capitulating to China.