6 ms·

I'm not a shill paid for by Samsung, but I still think this story is bullshit. (Disclaimer, I own and enjoy a macbook and an iphone and do not own any samsung p

by jychang 14y ago

I'm not a shill paid for by Samsung, but I still think this story is bullshit. (Disclaimer, I own and enjoy a macbook and an iphone and do not own any samsung products) First off, journalistic integrity is dead. This post was nothing but hearsay; there were no sources inside. All it is is complaining that there's a strong anti-apple sentiment on the internet. That's... about the least surprising thing in the world. All anti-apple posts being upvoted and others downvoted is "just another day on the internet". Some investigative article with actual resources into the corporate background of Samsung before all this fingerpointing would be a better idea.

darkchasma 14y ago
And if you were a shill, do you think you would come out and say it? Because, if I was a shill, this is essentially the post I would write.
- adamors 14y ago
  Well, there is a large number of anti-Microsoft and pro-Google posts all over the internet as well, do you think that everyone defending Google is a shill too? Or anyone who is saying that there isn't a Google funded smear campaign against Microsoft?
  - threeseed 14y ago
    The difference is that the reporter witnessed what appeared to be a coordinated effort to downvote the anti-Samsung posts.
    - adamors 14y ago
      Ever been to /r/technology lately? Try saying anything bad about Google and you will see the same number of downvotes coming your way.
    - batiudrami 14y ago
      My guess would be that it was linked to on one of the many, many Android websites (Android Police, for instance). That would cause the exact same effect (and you'd be able to tell by checking the referrers, but of course that kind of thing wasn't mentioned in the article.
      - sjwright 14y ago
        It's a shame if Disqus can't provide statistics about traffic sources versus action. I'd like to see what the referer traffic looks like, as well as the country lookup for IP addresses.
    - jychang 14y ago
      "Coordinated effort" means very little when anything going organically viral would produce the same results. To draw conclusions of conspiracy when the only evidence is a large number of views/posts/downvotes is irresponsible.
- Drakim 14y ago
  And if I were a counter-shill, your accusations is exactly the sort I would be writing in a reply. But more seriously, it's sad that this is becoming a bigger and bigger problem.
- jychang 14y ago
  No, but because accusations of being a shill is running pretty strong, it's always worth mentioning. I'm a pretty typical american university student who has developer experience with both android and iphones, and a pretty neutral experience with both, if you're actually wondering. Also, accusing me of being a shill is pretty ad hominem. If possible, focus on what's being written.
  - darkchasma 14y ago
    For someone focusing on what is being written, you really didin't. I made no accusation, I asked if you would say you were a shill, were that to be the case. And I admitted that if I were a shill, I would preface my statements with "I am not a shill". And the issue being discussed is about shills in technology comments, so even if I were to accuse you of being a shill, ad hominem this is not.
threeseed 14y ago
I don't think you understand what you're even saying. Hearsay is information you've obtained from a third person i.e. not directly witnessed. The reporter directly witnessed a sudden spike in voting on the Disqus forum. He directly witnessed an articulate post being heavily downvoted. He was not complaining that there was anti-Apple sentiment on the internet. He was complaining it was happening specifically on his site. And had the appearance of being coordinated.
- jychang 14y ago
  It's generally not polite to lead comments with "you don't understand what you're saying", but I'll explain myself. The main point here is that journalistic integrity is dead, which is still true. While seeing a spike of blog traffic isn't directly hearsay, it's still just drawing inferences, and pretty unprofessional. He's also acting like a redditor and complaining about downvotes for a volatile subject- which tends to be mass upvoted or downvoted depending on the crowd. A very reasonable explanation for thousands of downvotes would be if this post was found on a pro-apple forum or something; in fact, applying Occam's razor, a directed effort from Samsung HQ would more likely draw maybe 50 downvotes. To jump to conclusions and call conspiracy just from witnessing downvotes on his site is pretty silly. I'd like to point out for the entire second half of the post the author literally reposts a blog comment, containing things like "Samsung is not well liked by Koreans". That's a pretty accurate description of hearsay.

by jychang 14y ago

darkchasma 14y ago

And if you were a shill, do you think you would come out and say it? Because, if I was a shill, this is essentially the post I would write.

adamors 14y ago
Well, there is a large number of anti-Microsoft and pro-Google posts all over the internet as well, do you think that everyone defending Google is a shill too? Or anyone who is saying that there isn't a Google funded smear campaign against Microsoft?
- threeseed 14y ago
  The difference is that the reporter witnessed what appeared to be a coordinated effort to downvote the anti-Samsung posts.
  - adamors 14y ago
    Ever been to /r/technology lately? Try saying anything bad about Google and you will see the same number of downvotes coming your way.
  - batiudrami 14y ago
    My guess would be that it was linked to on one of the many, many Android websites (Android Police, for instance). That would cause the exact same effect (and you'd be able to tell by checking the referrers, but of course that kind of thing wasn't mentioned in the article.
    - sjwright 14y ago
      It's a shame if Disqus can't provide statistics about traffic sources versus action. I'd like to see what the referer traffic looks like, as well as the country lookup for IP addresses.
  - jychang 14y ago
    "Coordinated effort" means very little when anything going organically viral would produce the same results. To draw conclusions of conspiracy when the only evidence is a large number of views/posts/downvotes is irresponsible.
Drakim 14y ago
And if I were a counter-shill, your accusations is exactly the sort I would be writing in a reply. But more seriously, it's sad that this is becoming a bigger and bigger problem.
jychang 14y ago
No, but because accusations of being a shill is running pretty strong, it's always worth mentioning. I'm a pretty typical american university student who has developer experience with both android and iphones, and a pretty neutral experience with both, if you're actually wondering. Also, accusing me of being a shill is pretty ad hominem. If possible, focus on what's being written.
- darkchasma 14y ago
  For someone focusing on what is being written, you really didin't. I made no accusation, I asked if you would say you were a shill, were that to be the case. And I admitted that if I were a shill, I would preface my statements with "I am not a shill". And the issue being discussed is about shills in technology comments, so even if I were to accuse you of being a shill, ad hominem this is not.

threeseed 14y ago

I don't think you understand what you're even saying. Hearsay is information you've obtained from a third person i.e. not directly witnessed. The reporter directly witnessed a sudden spike in voting on the Disqus forum. He directly witnessed an articulate post being heavily downvoted. He was not complaining that there was anti-Apple sentiment on the internet. He was complaining it was happening specifically on his site. And had the appearance of being coordinated.

jychang 14y ago
It's generally not polite to lead comments with "you don't understand what you're saying", but I'll explain myself. The main point here is that journalistic integrity is dead, which is still true. While seeing a spike of blog traffic isn't directly hearsay, it's still just drawing inferences, and pretty unprofessional. He's also acting like a redditor and complaining about downvotes for a volatile subject- which tends to be mass upvoted or downvoted depending on the crowd. A very reasonable explanation for thousands of downvotes would be if this post was found on a pro-apple forum or something; in fact, applying Occam's razor, a directed effort from Samsung HQ would more likely draw maybe 50 downvotes. To jump to conclusions and call conspiracy just from witnessing downvotes on his site is pretty silly. I'd like to point out for the entire second half of the post the author literally reposts a blog comment, containing things like "Samsung is not well liked by Koreans". That's a pretty accurate description of hearsay.