4 ms·

What a bizarre take. You think people are being paid to post here? Can you point to any examples?

by Permit 2y ago

luzojeda 2y ago
It is something impossible to prove that people are paid to post anything so what's the point on arguing about that? I agree with him, there is enough proof already of non-western countries spreading misinformation and propaganda online. And if you want to find about it there's Google and many other search engines.
- Permit 2y ago
  It would help to see like, a single example of this being uncovered on the site. Failing that, it would help if he/she could point out a specific account they believe to be astroturfing here. I agree that there have been examples of non-western countries spreading misinformation online. I have not seen any evidence that they do so on HackerNews. What I do see frequently is posters upset/surprised that the crowd here disagrees with them and then concluding that everyone else must be paid to hold such opinions.
booleandilemma 2y ago
I wouldn't be surprised, tbh. HN is the go-to website for the tech scene, for better or worse.
ramses0 2y ago
https://wondermark.com/c/1062/ https://wondermark.com/c/1062/
simoncion 2y ago
> You think people are being paid to post here? Yes. Paid astroturfers posted in Slashdot discussions back when Microsoft was bankrolling the SCO lawsuit. Much like Slashdot back in the day, HN is a popular gossip site. I'd relinquish several vital organs if it turned out there were never any paid posters (whether meat or machine [0]) who had posted on this site (and others like it). > Can you point to any examples? Proving that is a ton of legwork that no not-particularly-motivated user is going to do. Unless someone is especially motivated to investigate, the best you're ever going to get is an indication of how plausible it is. [0] And no, you can't get cute and say that the bot posters can't get paid. Someone's getting paid to operate the bot, so (for the purposes of this bet) that counts as the bot being paid.

What a bizarre take. You think people are being paid to post here? Can you point to any examples?

by Permit 2y ago

What a bizarre take. You think people are being paid to post here? Can you point to any examples?

It is something impossible to prove that people are paid to post anything so what's the point on arguing about that? I agree with him, there is enough proof already of non-western countries spreading misinformation and propaganda online. And if you want to find about it there's Google and many other search engines.

Permit 2y ago
It would help to see like, a single example of this being uncovered on the site. Failing that, it would help if he/she could point out a specific account they believe to be astroturfing here. I agree that there have been examples of non-western countries spreading misinformation online. I have not seen any evidence that they do so on HackerNews. What I do see frequently is posters upset/surprised that the crowd here disagrees with them and then concluding that everyone else must be paid to hold such opinions.

booleandilemma 2y ago

I wouldn't be surprised, tbh. HN is the go-to website for the tech scene, for better or worse.

ramses0 2y ago

https://wondermark.com/c/1062/ https://wondermark.com/c/1062/

simoncion 2y ago

> You think people are being paid to post here? Yes. Paid astroturfers posted in Slashdot discussions back when Microsoft was bankrolling the SCO lawsuit. Much like Slashdot back in the day, HN is a popular gossip site. I'd relinquish several vital organs if it turned out there were never any paid posters (whether meat or machine [0]) who had posted on this site (and others like it). > Can you point to any examples? Proving that is a ton of legwork that no not-particularly-motivated user is going to do. Unless someone is especially motivated to investigate, the best you're ever going to get is an indication of how plausible it is. [0] And no, you can't get cute and say that the bot posters can't get paid. Someone's getting paid to operate the bot, so (for the purposes of this bet) that counts as the bot being paid.