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no it isn't. What a blind take. As someone who has ventured down these forums when I was younger. Its a mix of gamers/programmers/online hustlers. Some of it is
by hot_topic 2y ago
no it isn't. What a blind take. As someone who has ventured down these forums when I was younger. Its a mix of gamers/programmers/online hustlers. Some of it is grey area, some if it is renting out RDP's/VPNS for malicious users acting as middlemen for the criminals.
The mob mentality of rule following software engineers on here who are throwing out the accusation that these are all hardened criminals that want to burn down society here are a testament to the fact that hackernews is a cesspool of careerists. If you haven't ventured down these, I would even argue that you've no idea how the internet actually functions outside of your usual entertainment holes.
- demosthanos 2y agoEven Urban Dictionary, hardly a site dominated by rule-following career software engineers, defines a Com as revolving around crime: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Com https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Com Maybe Urban Dictionary is also populated by people who misunderstand the community, or maybe you weren't as deep as you thought.
- Pigalowda 2y ago[flagged]
- chrisco255 2y agoAnyone can submit entries to Urban Dictionary.
- demosthanos 2y agoThat's literally my point—someone submitted that definition, 150+ people agreed with it, and no one submitted an alternate of any sort. I would tend to expect that if OP is right that there's more nuance to Coms and it's not primarily about crime, there would be at least one alternate definition, because, as you note, anyone can make a definition there, and it's emphatically not a site dominated by the HN bubble. That there is no alternate says that the crime-centric understanding of Coms is the primary one on at least one other site that doesn't match OP's stereotype.
- chrisco255 2y agoIf the word is just a made up newthing, why would there be an alternate definition? You can find 150 people to agree with anything on the internet. It's the most trivial thing in the world to achieve.
- psychoslave 2y agoProbably managing to have this post to be upvoted at least 150 times will be a more compelling argument.
- senordevnyc 2y agoYou mean outside of the sites where the vast majority of the online traffic and economic activity happen? Do you really think that anything would meaningfully change in the world if these little niche communities disappeared tomorrow? They’re a rounding error on the internet.
- hot_topic 2y agoYou say this as if it’s a good thing, that the internet has been cornered into a few very small but wildly popular corners. You arent wrong. I’m not sure what this has to do with my original point. I did some extremely interesting stuff in these groups.
- senordevnyc 2y agoI’m not praising the status quo, I’m taking issue with your “how the internet actually functions outside the big sites” thing. Of course hardly anyone knows how these tiny weird communities operate: they don’t matter.
- thelittleone 2y agoPlease clarify. Do you suggest that because a community is small it doesn't matter?
- tonymet 2y agoaccounted for economic activity
- impulser_ 2y agoIf you think these are "forums" then you have no idea what you're talking about.
- hot_topic 2y agoForum schmorum, you know what I’m talking about. Telegram, WhatsApp. Forum : “place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.”
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- rsoto2 2y agoMaybe we should investigate government employees for ties to child predator networks whether or not we're just a "cesspool of careerists," bro. https://www.wired.com/story/764-com-child-predator-network/ https://www.wired.com/story/764-com-child-predator-network/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/09/the-dark-nexus-between-harm-groups-and-the-com/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/09/the-dark-nexus-between-h...
- rsoto2 2y ago"some of it is grey area" and some of it is some real depraved shit: https://www.maargentino.com/the-pillars-of-the-com-network/ https://www.maargentino.com/the-pillars-of-the-com-network/
- roguecoder 2y agoYou say that like "hustling" isn't a crime, like gamergate didn't happen, like "programmers" don't write code to do all sorts of things, legal and illegal. Some of us are old enough to know that none of this is new. No one is saying these are "hardened" criminals, but none of them care about the consequences of what they are participating in and that is just as disqualifying for public service.