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There's definitely a bit of influence / perception manipulation on HN. A few years back I heard a story that a tech company would monitor HN for certain keyword

There's definitely a bit of influence / perception manipulation on HN. A few years back I heard a story that a tech company would monitor HN for certain keywords, and if their product or category was ever brought up or mentioned multiple developers would always show up to engage on the topic. This isn't quite spamming or cheating the system, but it's a very effective tactic for shifting public perception.

bbor 3y ago
OTOH that’s kinda the utopian version of open source - a public forum where you can engage with stakeholders on demand, as long as others find your critique/question interesting enough to upvote. God I love hacker news… their insanely outdated moderation tools are a shame, but I can’t lie, holding a big stick makes for a peaceful forum.
tech234a 3y ago
You might be referring to GitLab: https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/developer-relations/developer-advocacy/hacker-news/ https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/developer-rel... (hi to those from GitLab watching #hn-mentions on Slack)
- john_cogs 3y ago
  :waves:
  - uoaei 3y ago
    It's a curious division between "old internet" and "new internet" (those on the *chans may have parallel but slightly different terminology for this dichotomy) to see people use BBS-style vs IRC-style emotive expressions.
- tivert 3y ago
  > You might be referring to GitLab: https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/developer-relations/developer-advocacy/hacker-news/ https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/developer-rel... That's really interesting that they'd disclose their strategy so publicly. On the one hand, I can't see it doing much harm. On the other hand, wouldn't it be somewhat self-defeating or even embarrassing to confess that you're doing that? One could probably reasonably assume that many companies have a social media strategy like that, but to have people know that's the strategy would probably drain away at least some of the goodwill provided by the posts.
  - bryanrasmussen 3y ago
    I would think it is good if done in a good way and bad if done in a bad way. bad way - posting stuff to make your company profile go up all the time, if you think you have something that might be of interest to HN sure but not everything you do should get posted. when negative stuff comes up swoop in to defend company and to drag down those saying negative things about company, especially without disclosure but even with disclosure. Good - something technical about company comes up, developers who worked on technical thing come in and clarify technical aspects for people. Somebody has problem with your product and you come in and ask for clarification and help solve problem.
  - shepherdjerred 3y ago
    Doesn't GitLab make all of their internal documentation public?
ilamont 3y ago
This is how some companies counter negative glassdoor reviews. Bury them with 10x positive reviews.
- passwordoops 3y ago
  HR at my last place was very aggressive in reminding us to leave 5-star reviews at Glassdoor. They once even offered Starbucks gift cards to the first 5 of the month. I was very sure to leave an honest, dirty laundry review after I left including a mention of this practice
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    Wouldn't what they were doing be against the ToS of places like Glassdoor?
    - passwordoops 3y ago
      Probably, but does anyone think Glassdoor is going to chase after potential revenue streams for violating their ToS?
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
leobg 3y ago
Pinecone txtai … Someone should build an AI agent that keeps a list.
saagarjha 3y ago
You could also just hire people who spend all their time on this site.
- yreg 3y ago
  I'm open to such offers.
- ddalex 3y ago
  Don't all FAANGs and fancy startups already do this ?
- rpigab 3y ago
  That's already what everyone here does, mostly, it's just off the books.

bbor 3y ago

OTOH that’s kinda the utopian version of open source - a public forum where you can engage with stakeholders on demand, as long as others find your critique/question interesting enough to upvote. God I love hacker news… their insanely outdated moderation tools are a shame, but I can’t lie, holding a big stick makes for a peaceful forum.

tech234a 3y ago

You might be referring to GitLab: https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/developer-relations/developer-advocacy/hacker-news/ https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/developer-rel... (hi to those from GitLab watching #hn-mentions on Slack)

john_cogs 3y ago
:waves:
- uoaei 3y ago
  It's a curious division between "old internet" and "new internet" (those on the *chans may have parallel but slightly different terminology for this dichotomy) to see people use BBS-style vs IRC-style emotive expressions.
tivert 3y ago
> You might be referring to GitLab: https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/developer-relations/developer-advocacy/hacker-news/ https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/developer-rel... That's really interesting that they'd disclose their strategy so publicly. On the one hand, I can't see it doing much harm. On the other hand, wouldn't it be somewhat self-defeating or even embarrassing to confess that you're doing that? One could probably reasonably assume that many companies have a social media strategy like that, but to have people know that's the strategy would probably drain away at least some of the goodwill provided by the posts.
- bryanrasmussen 3y ago
  I would think it is good if done in a good way and bad if done in a bad way. bad way - posting stuff to make your company profile go up all the time, if you think you have something that might be of interest to HN sure but not everything you do should get posted. when negative stuff comes up swoop in to defend company and to drag down those saying negative things about company, especially without disclosure but even with disclosure. Good - something technical about company comes up, developers who worked on technical thing come in and clarify technical aspects for people. Somebody has problem with your product and you come in and ask for clarification and help solve problem.
- shepherdjerred 3y ago
  Doesn't GitLab make all of their internal documentation public?

ilamont 3y ago

This is how some companies counter negative glassdoor reviews. Bury them with 10x positive reviews.

passwordoops 3y ago
HR at my last place was very aggressive in reminding us to leave 5-star reviews at Glassdoor. They once even offered Starbucks gift cards to the first 5 of the month. I was very sure to leave an honest, dirty laundry review after I left including a mention of this practice
- wkat4242 3y ago
  Wouldn't what they were doing be against the ToS of places like Glassdoor?
  - passwordoops 3y ago
    Probably, but does anyone think Glassdoor is going to chase after potential revenue streams for violating their ToS?

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

leobg 3y ago

Pinecone txtai … Someone should build an AI agent that keeps a list.

saagarjha 3y ago

You could also just hire people who spend all their time on this site.

yreg 3y ago
I'm open to such offers.
ddalex 3y ago
Don't all FAANGs and fancy startups already do this ?
rpigab 3y ago
That's already what everyone here does, mostly, it's just off the books.