3 ms·

Dang, I would appreciate a reply, since you kind of skirted around my main point, which is that pro-Israel accounts have been posting copy-pasted verbatim-ident

Dang, I would appreciate a reply, since you kind of skirted around my main point, which is that pro-Israel accounts have been posting copy-pasted verbatim-identical talking points going back all the way to at least 2014. Multiple accounts are literally posting the same word-for-word replies, but we're supposed to pretend that it's impossible for state actors to run influence operations on HN. How?

dang 2mo ago
You haven't supplied any links of that kind. Where are these accounts that are "literally posting the same word-for-word replies"? We need something objective to go on (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20%22something%20objective%20to%20go%20on%22&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...) or all this just reduces to the mist of imagination. You've given me one link so far, and I gave you an in-depth reply. That's not "skirting around" and it's not telling you to "pretend" (as if such a thing would work). If you want me to engage with you seriously, you should omit such swipes. Writing in-depth responses to these questions is extremely time-consuming, and that means taking time away from the other 50,000 things we're overwhelmed with. I'm not going to keep doing this if you signal that you're unwilling to accept an answer you don't already agree with. It is common on open internet forums (like HN) for people to become convinced that they're surrounded by enemies, and eventually that the mods are in cahoots with their enemies - because the alternative is to believe the simpler-but-more-painful theory that other legit users sincerely and strongly disagree with them. I've written about this many times (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098).
- sndgndgndgndy 2mo ago
  I'm not asking for a multi-paragraph in-depth reply: I want you answer how these two posts that I linked to from 2014 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406178 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406257 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406257 arrived at the same "Please, no simplified propaganda on HN" phrasing when they're coming from separate accounts within a short period of time. You've written a lot of text, but so far you still haven't answered how these two pro-Israel accounts ended up posting the exact same phrasing if they're not sockpuppets. I'm not sure how I can make it any more clear.
  - dang 2mo ago
    This is so absurd that I can hardly spell out how absurd it is. (1) You didn't link to those two posts, only one of them (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900528 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900528). Now you're complaining that I "still haven't answered" a question you didn't ask in the first place. (2) Are you seriously asking me to tell you why 2 comments from 12 years ago happened to use the same turn of phrase? How should I know? Perhaps one saw the other say it and repeated it. (3) The fact that you have to go back to 2014 to even pose your question is self-refuting. If this were a serious issue, you'd have no difficulty supplying recent examples.
    - sndgndgndgndy 2mo ago
      I linked to a discussion thread linking to the other post. My point is that Hasbara has been active on HN for a long time and you're turning a blind eye to it. On other sites you will frequently see their sockpuppets posting the same verbatim-identical talking points, and they were sloppier about parroting the same lines on HN back then. They have a major presence here, and you need to stop pretending that they don't exist. Hasbara is a civilian-state fusion that enlists regular Israelis to shill for the government while making smalltalk on the side to appear organic.
      - dang 2mo ago
        > I linked to a discussion thread linking to the other post. Where? > and you're turning a blind eye to it I spent over an hour taking seriously, looking into, and responding to the concern you raised, only to be accused of "turning a blind eye". That is what one gets for being an internet idiot, which was obviously my mistake here. > On other sites you will frequently see That is what people resort to when they have no evidence to point to on HN itself, which is already clear from your having to go back as far as 2014 to dig anything up. HN gets millions of posts a year—from randomness alone you shouldn't have to go far back to come up with something that looks plausible, however superficially.
        sndgndgndgndy 2mo ago

dang 2mo ago

You haven't supplied any links of that kind. Where are these accounts that are "literally posting the same word-for-word replies"? We need something objective to go on (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20%22something%20objective%20to%20go%20on%22&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...) or all this just reduces to the mist of imagination. You've given me one link so far, and I gave you an in-depth reply. That's not "skirting around" and it's not telling you to "pretend" (as if such a thing would work). If you want me to engage with you seriously, you should omit such swipes. Writing in-depth responses to these questions is extremely time-consuming, and that means taking time away from the other 50,000 things we're overwhelmed with. I'm not going to keep doing this if you signal that you're unwilling to accept an answer you don't already agree with. It is common on open internet forums (like HN) for people to become convinced that they're surrounded by enemies, and eventually that the mods are in cahoots with their enemies - because the alternative is to believe the simpler-but-more-painful theory that other legit users sincerely and strongly disagree with them. I've written about this many times (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098).

sndgndgndgndy 2mo ago
I'm not asking for a multi-paragraph in-depth reply: I want you answer how these two posts that I linked to from 2014 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406178 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406257 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406257 arrived at the same "Please, no simplified propaganda on HN" phrasing when they're coming from separate accounts within a short period of time. You've written a lot of text, but so far you still haven't answered how these two pro-Israel accounts ended up posting the exact same phrasing if they're not sockpuppets. I'm not sure how I can make it any more clear.
- dang 2mo ago
  This is so absurd that I can hardly spell out how absurd it is. (1) You didn't link to those two posts, only one of them (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900528 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900528). Now you're complaining that I "still haven't answered" a question you didn't ask in the first place. (2) Are you seriously asking me to tell you why 2 comments from 12 years ago happened to use the same turn of phrase? How should I know? Perhaps one saw the other say it and repeated it. (3) The fact that you have to go back to 2014 to even pose your question is self-refuting. If this were a serious issue, you'd have no difficulty supplying recent examples.
  - sndgndgndgndy 2mo ago
    I linked to a discussion thread linking to the other post. My point is that Hasbara has been active on HN for a long time and you're turning a blind eye to it. On other sites you will frequently see their sockpuppets posting the same verbatim-identical talking points, and they were sloppier about parroting the same lines on HN back then. They have a major presence here, and you need to stop pretending that they don't exist. Hasbara is a civilian-state fusion that enlists regular Israelis to shill for the government while making smalltalk on the side to appear organic.
    - dang 2mo ago
      > I linked to a discussion thread linking to the other post. Where? > and you're turning a blind eye to it I spent over an hour taking seriously, looking into, and responding to the concern you raised, only to be accused of "turning a blind eye". That is what one gets for being an internet idiot, which was obviously my mistake here. > On other sites you will frequently see That is what people resort to when they have no evidence to point to on HN itself, which is already clear from your having to go back as far as 2014 to dig anything up. HN gets millions of posts a year—from randomness alone you shouldn't have to go far back to come up with something that looks plausible, however superficially.
      - sndgndgndgndy 2mo ago