6 ms·

Any source for that?

by eatkd 1y ago

toomuchtodo 1y ago
https://www.nrn.com/casual-dining/cracker-barrel-s-logo-controversy-was-driven-by-bots-what-operators-should-learn-from-this https://www.nrn.com/casual-dining/cracker-barrel-s-logo-cont... https://www.wsj.com/articles/bot-networks-are-helping-drag-consumer-brands-into-the-culture-wars-63dffa04 https://www.wsj.com/articles/bot-networks-are-helping-drag-c...
- hajile 1y ago
  Did anyone short Cracker Barrel stock? If not, I have a hard time seeing why bots would have any interest in investing the time/money. There also didn't seem to be any political clout being gained by the complaints. More real-world is that I know tons of friends/relatives in the South and I don't know of even ONE that liked the redesign.
  - pstuart 1y ago
    Rage baiting has value to certain groups.
  - dhosek 1y ago
    I recall reading somewhere about some investor who wanted to take control of cb who drove this, so less shorting and more opportunistic drive down the price to buy more shares at a lower price.
    - joshkel 1y ago
      Yes. Sardar Biglari, who's an activist investor and the CEO and owner of Steak'n'Shake, has been pushing for more control over Cracker Barrel for several years. He amplified some of the backlash against Cracker Barrel. https://fortune.com/2025/09/18/sardar-biglari-war-against-cracker-barrel/ https://fortune.com/2025/09/18/sardar-biglari-war-against-cr...
  - UltraSane 1y ago
    Russia has gotten VERY good at amplifying any cultural differences or controversies in order to break US politics (and many other countries). If you hadn't noticed it has been VERY effective.
    - MomsAVoxell 1y ago
      If you haven't noticed, there is no evidence of your claims.
      - UltraSane 1y ago
        You just have to read Reddit and YouTube and Twitter comments to see all the evidence you need.
        mh- 1y ago
        Curious that you didn't include HN in that list.
        UltraSane 1y ago
        Because I rarely see obvious Russian troll comments on hacker news
        MomsAVoxell 1y ago
        Yes, there are Russians on the Internet. No, they’re not all trolls. No, I’m not Russian. Yes, there are American trolls on the Internet. No, America doesn’t own the Internet.
        UltraSane 1y ago
        I have no idea what you are trying to say. Russia pays hundreds of people to post comments on the Internet. They have been doing this since the Jade Helm Conspiracy hysteria they caused proved their methods to be very effective. https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/03/hysteria-over-jade-helm-exercise-texas-was-fueled-russians-former-cia-/ https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/03/hysteria-over-jade-h... Hysteria over Jade Helm exercise in Texas was fueled by Russians, former CIA director says Gov. Greg Abbott's decision in 2015 to ask the Texas State Guard to monitor a federal military exercise prompted significant criticism. A former CIA director said Wednesday that the move emboldened Russians to next target elections.
- forgotoldacc 1y ago
  The vast majority of Twitter posts are by bots, so 44.5% seems like a higher proportion of humans than usual. The Cracker Barrel thing was a hot topic amongst people I know for a good 48 hours. It's more interesting to me how, without fail, a comment always pops in at the mention of Cracker Barrel to say "those were bots, fellow human."
  - bmicraft 1y ago
    If the "fueled by bots" comment wasn't here already I'd have written it.
- mh- 1y ago
  > According to research obtained by the Wall Street Journal from PeakMetrics, 44.5% of X posts about Cracker Barrel on Aug. 20 (when the new logo began to go viral), were posted by “bots or likely bots,” rising to 49% at the peak of the controversy. I wonder how much this differs from the percentage for any trending topic on X?

Any source for that?

by eatkd 1y ago

Any source for that?

https://www.nrn.com/casual-dining/cracker-barrel-s-logo-controversy-was-driven-by-bots-what-operators-should-learn-from-this https://www.nrn.com/casual-dining/cracker-barrel-s-logo-cont... https://www.wsj.com/articles/bot-networks-are-helping-drag-consumer-brands-into-the-culture-wars-63dffa04 https://www.wsj.com/articles/bot-networks-are-helping-drag-c...

hajile 1y ago
Did anyone short Cracker Barrel stock? If not, I have a hard time seeing why bots would have any interest in investing the time/money. There also didn't seem to be any political clout being gained by the complaints. More real-world is that I know tons of friends/relatives in the South and I don't know of even ONE that liked the redesign.
- pstuart 1y ago
  Rage baiting has value to certain groups.
- dhosek 1y ago
  I recall reading somewhere about some investor who wanted to take control of cb who drove this, so less shorting and more opportunistic drive down the price to buy more shares at a lower price.
  - joshkel 1y ago
    Yes. Sardar Biglari, who's an activist investor and the CEO and owner of Steak'n'Shake, has been pushing for more control over Cracker Barrel for several years. He amplified some of the backlash against Cracker Barrel. https://fortune.com/2025/09/18/sardar-biglari-war-against-cracker-barrel/ https://fortune.com/2025/09/18/sardar-biglari-war-against-cr...
- UltraSane 1y ago
  Russia has gotten VERY good at amplifying any cultural differences or controversies in order to break US politics (and many other countries). If you hadn't noticed it has been VERY effective.
  - MomsAVoxell 1y ago
    If you haven't noticed, there is no evidence of your claims.
    - UltraSane 1y ago
      You just have to read Reddit and YouTube and Twitter comments to see all the evidence you need.
      - mh- 1y ago
        Curious that you didn't include HN in that list.
        UltraSane 1y ago
        Because I rarely see obvious Russian troll comments on hacker news
        MomsAVoxell 1y ago
        Yes, there are Russians on the Internet. No, they’re not all trolls. No, I’m not Russian. Yes, there are American trolls on the Internet. No, America doesn’t own the Internet.
        UltraSane 1y ago
        I have no idea what you are trying to say. Russia pays hundreds of people to post comments on the Internet. They have been doing this since the Jade Helm Conspiracy hysteria they caused proved their methods to be very effective. https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/03/hysteria-over-jade-helm-exercise-texas-was-fueled-russians-former-cia-/ https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/03/hysteria-over-jade-h... Hysteria over Jade Helm exercise in Texas was fueled by Russians, former CIA director says Gov. Greg Abbott's decision in 2015 to ask the Texas State Guard to monitor a federal military exercise prompted significant criticism. A former CIA director said Wednesday that the move emboldened Russians to next target elections.
forgotoldacc 1y ago
The vast majority of Twitter posts are by bots, so 44.5% seems like a higher proportion of humans than usual. The Cracker Barrel thing was a hot topic amongst people I know for a good 48 hours. It's more interesting to me how, without fail, a comment always pops in at the mention of Cracker Barrel to say "those were bots, fellow human."
- bmicraft 1y ago
  If the "fueled by bots" comment wasn't here already I'd have written it.
mh- 1y ago
> According to research obtained by the Wall Street Journal from PeakMetrics, 44.5% of X posts about Cracker Barrel on Aug. 20 (when the new logo began to go viral), were posted by “bots or likely bots,” rising to 49% at the peak of the controversy. I wonder how much this differs from the percentage for any trending topic on X?