6 ms·

> What the site was is that, I had scraped data for all students at IIT Delhi, and made a profile for all of them. > anyone could make an anonymous account, an

> What the site was is that, I had scraped data for all students at IIT Delhi, and made a profile for all of them. > anyone could make an anonymous account, and then comment anything on anyone's profile. Oh, good, they made a harassment factory.

dmitrygr 7mo ago
Oh, good, they made TheFacebook
- morkalork 7mo ago
  Ah but, after the first of anything the ladder must be pulled up.
areoform 7mo ago
It doesn't matter. This is how Facebook started. It's how a lot of things started. Young people doing (sometimes questionable) experiments. The fact that the default response to this is "omg" and "this guy deserves to be in prison" is an indication of the dark times we're headed towards. A society unable to tolerate deviance from the norm, is a society that will fail to adapt to inevitable changes to the norm. And the norms are changing. I am pretty pro-privacy. And yes, I find it to be fairly thoughtless, but that's no reason for coercive intimidation. The fact that this was the reaction to someone doing an experiment speaks poorly about the society it took place in, and explains why there haven't been any major breakthroughs - in consumer tech, science or the arts – from within that country. More generally, HN's reaction is disappointing. This is a very hacker thing to do. Hackers have always been people out at the edge doing things that get them into trouble. The fact that most people on HN want to crush that rebelliousness – that hacker spirit – is sad to me. I think there's a dark undercurrent in global culture, where people would rather live in a world where they're poor but able to control others as opposed to one where they're wealthy but unable to exert control over others.
- jjulius 7mo ago
  Go, have your fun, experiment, fuck around, push boundaries. Don't make profiles for me based on info you found, public or not, and then sign me up to receive notifications for messages on it without my permission. Yeah, Facebook started in college, but it didn't start with scraped data and auto-generated profiles.
  - tokai 7mo ago
    Facemash, Mark's pre-facebook project, was a page to vote on student attractiveness, with names and pictures of female students scraped from Harvard.
    - kstrauser 7mo ago
      I will not hold my breath waiting for someone to defend him.
    - jjulius 7mo ago
      Ah, true, I forgot that bit. My bad. Still, though... oof.
    - watwut 7mo ago
      And zuckenberg turned out to be an asshole later, creating products that cause harm and supporting Trump. So, it all checks out.
      - kazinator 7mo ago
        For values of "later" equivalent to "at that point".
  - kazinator 7mo ago
    I suppose it would be worse without the notifications, even though they are form of spam, because then you wouldn't know what some anonymous posters are writing under a purported profile of yours.
  - 7mo ago
ThrowawayTestr 7mo ago
That's an indictment of humanity not the creator.
jfjfnfnfnrbdb 7mo ago
So he watched the social network then

dmitrygr 7mo ago

Oh, good, they made TheFacebook

morkalork 7mo ago
Ah but, after the first of anything the ladder must be pulled up.

areoform 7mo ago

It doesn't matter. This is how Facebook started. It's how a lot of things started. Young people doing (sometimes questionable) experiments. The fact that the default response to this is "omg" and "this guy deserves to be in prison" is an indication of the dark times we're headed towards. A society unable to tolerate deviance from the norm, is a society that will fail to adapt to inevitable changes to the norm. And the norms are changing. I am pretty pro-privacy. And yes, I find it to be fairly thoughtless, but that's no reason for coercive intimidation. The fact that this was the reaction to someone doing an experiment speaks poorly about the society it took place in, and explains why there haven't been any major breakthroughs - in consumer tech, science or the arts – from within that country. More generally, HN's reaction is disappointing. This is a very hacker thing to do. Hackers have always been people out at the edge doing things that get them into trouble. The fact that most people on HN want to crush that rebelliousness – that hacker spirit – is sad to me. I think there's a dark undercurrent in global culture, where people would rather live in a world where they're poor but able to control others as opposed to one where they're wealthy but unable to exert control over others.

jjulius 7mo ago
Go, have your fun, experiment, fuck around, push boundaries. Don't make profiles for me based on info you found, public or not, and then sign me up to receive notifications for messages on it without my permission. Yeah, Facebook started in college, but it didn't start with scraped data and auto-generated profiles.
- tokai 7mo ago
  Facemash, Mark's pre-facebook project, was a page to vote on student attractiveness, with names and pictures of female students scraped from Harvard.
  - kstrauser 7mo ago
    I will not hold my breath waiting for someone to defend him.
  - jjulius 7mo ago
    Ah, true, I forgot that bit. My bad. Still, though... oof.
  - watwut 7mo ago
    And zuckenberg turned out to be an asshole later, creating products that cause harm and supporting Trump. So, it all checks out.
    - kazinator 7mo ago
      For values of "later" equivalent to "at that point".
- kazinator 7mo ago
  I suppose it would be worse without the notifications, even though they are form of spam, because then you wouldn't know what some anonymous posters are writing under a purported profile of yours.
- 7mo ago

ThrowawayTestr 7mo ago

That's an indictment of humanity not the creator.

jfjfnfnfnrbdb 7mo ago

So he watched the social network then