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It's basically public, anonymous voting where anyone can make an account. It's not hard to manipulate even for people who have access to the HN server and it's

It's basically public, anonymous voting where anyone can make an account. It's not hard to manipulate even for people who have access to the HN server and it's very difficult to detect even for people who have access to the HN server.

wkat4242 4y ago
True but I really doubt this is happening on a large scale. We would have noticed. Also, on the scale of things HN is peanuts. It's not a mainstream thing that would attract the interest of investors at all. This is one of the things I like about it. And I strongly trust the integrity of people like dang who have made this site what it is.
- MichaelZuo 4y ago
  It's a bit ironic this is said by a random pseudonym account created 3 months ago with over 2000 karma... It doesn't really matter what your specific intentions are, and no one can verify them anyways since your using a pseudonym, but when there are thousands of accounts like this, people notice. And they draw the conclusion that there's something fishy going on, or that there's an enormous influx of highly active new users joining every month. Personally I do think there is some vote trading and account trading going on, though I'm unsure as to the extent.
  - wkat4242 4y ago
    I've been active for years here (slowly increasing in activity) and had > 10k karma but I decided to rotate my account to be less traceable. Because I don't want my work to be associated with my personal opinions here. My old account was too easily traced back. For example, I will often give criticism about products our company uses or even sells. Consider how LinkedIn is a sickening stream of people repeating the company line without critical thought. This is what too much traceability looks like. Just a whole bunch of fake. Anonymity makes it easier to be honest, not harder. Also as I work in cyber I'm always aware of the dangers of OSINT. I will continue rotating this every few months, or as necessary. The way this site and its operators understand the need for this, is one of the things I really like here. I see many people using throwaways and this is not frowned upon unless they are used for spamming, shilling or other abuse. PS my account name isn't random, it stands for something.

wkat4242 4y ago

True but I really doubt this is happening on a large scale. We would have noticed. Also, on the scale of things HN is peanuts. It's not a mainstream thing that would attract the interest of investors at all. This is one of the things I like about it. And I strongly trust the integrity of people like dang who have made this site what it is.

MichaelZuo 4y ago
It's a bit ironic this is said by a random pseudonym account created 3 months ago with over 2000 karma... It doesn't really matter what your specific intentions are, and no one can verify them anyways since your using a pseudonym, but when there are thousands of accounts like this, people notice. And they draw the conclusion that there's something fishy going on, or that there's an enormous influx of highly active new users joining every month. Personally I do think there is some vote trading and account trading going on, though I'm unsure as to the extent.
- wkat4242 4y ago
  I've been active for years here (slowly increasing in activity) and had > 10k karma but I decided to rotate my account to be less traceable. Because I don't want my work to be associated with my personal opinions here. My old account was too easily traced back. For example, I will often give criticism about products our company uses or even sells. Consider how LinkedIn is a sickening stream of people repeating the company line without critical thought. This is what too much traceability looks like. Just a whole bunch of fake. Anonymity makes it easier to be honest, not harder. Also as I work in cyber I'm always aware of the dangers of OSINT. I will continue rotating this every few months, or as necessary. The way this site and its operators understand the need for this, is one of the things I really like here. I see many people using throwaways and this is not frowned upon unless they are used for spamming, shilling or other abuse. PS my account name isn't random, it stands for something.