3 ms·

> With a smartphone in every hand, one badly thought out flirting attempt, recorded and shared by an unsympathetic party, will destroy someone's life and brand

> With a smartphone in every hand, one badly thought out flirting attempt, recorded and shared by an unsympathetic party, will destroy someone's life and brand them as creepy loser forever. I see this idea on HN all the time and I have no idea what it means. This is not a thing. How could it possibly be a thing? What scenario are you imagining exactly? Can you point to a single example?

inglor_cz 4y ago
"I see this idea on HN all the time and I have no idea what it means. This is not a thing. How could it possibly be a thing? What scenario are you imagining exactly? Can you point to a single example?" At least a quarter of all viral videos of the last 10 years are in the "hey, look at that incredible idiot" category, regardless of actual activity of said idiot. Driving, dancing, singing, acting, speaking, fighting, working with tools, cursing, having public meltdown etc. There are entire fora dedicated to "epic fails". I don't have either the time or even will to dig in the swamps of Dagobah that is the modern social network world, but flirting is just another activity some people suck in and it does not have any magic exception against shaming. I have definitely seen a lot of screenshots from dating app conversations going badly. Pre-smartphone world, "epic fails" were a strictly local and quickly forgotten phenomena, unless you were a high profile person (an important politician or sportsman like Eddie the Eagle or Maradona with his Hand of God). The technology has been a great equalizer and a single instance of bad/failed/dumb behavior can now dog you for life even if you are nobody.
- spywaregorilla 4y ago
  Name one person though. Identify someone who's life is ruined. I will bet you cannot because these videos are neither memorable, nor did they reach such reach that they actually register with 1% of the population, nor do people really care about that time you did something dumb. It's neither common in reality, nor is it impactful at all.
  - inglor_cz 4y ago
    How can you know the impact? It is not easy to measure. Vetting a job candidate on the social networks is now a standard feature of the hiring process. If you get a "no", they won't tell you that you were dropped because of "that" video, or even that you were dropped because of something on the Internet. There is an enormous "fog of war" there. I had myself the "pleasure" of deciding whether to hire a person whose drunk photos from the bar were less than flattering. I decided to give him a chance, but in his case, he was a real alcoholic who could not be trusted with administration of a server. I can see other people being less tolerant and more CYA in their approach.
    - spywaregorilla 4y ago
      > How can you know the impact? It is not easy to measure. Because I've never heard of this happening to anyone, nor can I recall anything about any random stranger (or acquaintance) that would matter from a viral video. It's a stupid concept. It doesn't happen. Top of front page reddit isn't even going to reach that many people and nobody will remember it. Oh no, you messed up a flirt and it's on THE INTERNET? Nobody cares. Nobody has ever cared. > I had myself the "pleasure" of deciding whether to hire a person whose drunk photos from the bar were less than flattering. I decided to give him a chance, but in his case, he was a real alcoholic who could not be trusted with administration of a server. What photos? His own? Are you suggesting a stranger randomly posted these photos along with identifying searchable details in a medium where he had no ability to block it? Or was he just a dumbass with a public profile and a bunch of junky photos? Was it one photo or a series of photos indicating he does this all the time from... a collection of strangers across different periods? Sounds to me like its a very different situation than the proposed "random girl records your fail and ruins your life"
      - inglor_cz 4y ago
        Not his own. Photos made by his fellow drunkards in the bar. Yes, he was tagged there. It was an entire album of shots like "Z is sleeping with his head on the table and someone squeezed half a bottle of ketchup onto his head, producing a red spiral". That was in 2014, so I am not sure about his either willingness or capability to block those photos on Facebook. It was definitely too awkward to discuss personally.

inglor_cz 4y ago

"I see this idea on HN all the time and I have no idea what it means. This is not a thing. How could it possibly be a thing? What scenario are you imagining exactly? Can you point to a single example?" At least a quarter of all viral videos of the last 10 years are in the "hey, look at that incredible idiot" category, regardless of actual activity of said idiot. Driving, dancing, singing, acting, speaking, fighting, working with tools, cursing, having public meltdown etc. There are entire fora dedicated to "epic fails". I don't have either the time or even will to dig in the swamps of Dagobah that is the modern social network world, but flirting is just another activity some people suck in and it does not have any magic exception against shaming. I have definitely seen a lot of screenshots from dating app conversations going badly. Pre-smartphone world, "epic fails" were a strictly local and quickly forgotten phenomena, unless you were a high profile person (an important politician or sportsman like Eddie the Eagle or Maradona with his Hand of God). The technology has been a great equalizer and a single instance of bad/failed/dumb behavior can now dog you for life even if you are nobody.

spywaregorilla 4y ago
Name one person though. Identify someone who's life is ruined. I will bet you cannot because these videos are neither memorable, nor did they reach such reach that they actually register with 1% of the population, nor do people really care about that time you did something dumb. It's neither common in reality, nor is it impactful at all.
- inglor_cz 4y ago
  How can you know the impact? It is not easy to measure. Vetting a job candidate on the social networks is now a standard feature of the hiring process. If you get a "no", they won't tell you that you were dropped because of "that" video, or even that you were dropped because of something on the Internet. There is an enormous "fog of war" there. I had myself the "pleasure" of deciding whether to hire a person whose drunk photos from the bar were less than flattering. I decided to give him a chance, but in his case, he was a real alcoholic who could not be trusted with administration of a server. I can see other people being less tolerant and more CYA in their approach.
  - spywaregorilla 4y ago
    > How can you know the impact? It is not easy to measure. Because I've never heard of this happening to anyone, nor can I recall anything about any random stranger (or acquaintance) that would matter from a viral video. It's a stupid concept. It doesn't happen. Top of front page reddit isn't even going to reach that many people and nobody will remember it. Oh no, you messed up a flirt and it's on THE INTERNET? Nobody cares. Nobody has ever cared. > I had myself the "pleasure" of deciding whether to hire a person whose drunk photos from the bar were less than flattering. I decided to give him a chance, but in his case, he was a real alcoholic who could not be trusted with administration of a server. What photos? His own? Are you suggesting a stranger randomly posted these photos along with identifying searchable details in a medium where he had no ability to block it? Or was he just a dumbass with a public profile and a bunch of junky photos? Was it one photo or a series of photos indicating he does this all the time from... a collection of strangers across different periods? Sounds to me like its a very different situation than the proposed "random girl records your fail and ruins your life"
    - inglor_cz 4y ago
      Not his own. Photos made by his fellow drunkards in the bar. Yes, he was tagged there. It was an entire album of shots like "Z is sleeping with his head on the table and someone squeezed half a bottle of ketchup onto his head, producing a red spiral". That was in 2014, so I am not sure about his either willingness or capability to block those photos on Facebook. It was definitely too awkward to discuss personally.