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I was going to sternly object, and then I remembered how a friend deleted me on facebook because I liked a certain politician. Then my work friended me so I wen

I was going to sternly object, and then I remembered how a friend deleted me on facebook because I liked a certain politician. Then my work friended me so I went back and pruned every semi-controversial topic from my feed and "unliked" a ton of subjects. And now I keep it all to myself. I probably reveal more here in my writing than I do on those outlets. And to say I edit my thoughts here on HN would be an understatement. People don't want true diversity. That would mean hearing something they dislike. Which would invalidate their life apparently.

angersock 12y ago
Fuck'em and post'em, is what I say. Just try to make sure that, if you're going to get flamed, it's a post you'd be proud getting flamed for. They can only downvote you once per post (though the admins and mods may hellban/slowban you if you are enough of a gadfly).
DanAndersen 12y ago
The common realization that things on the Internet are forever causes a terrible amount of sanitization of our opinions and beliefs. It seems like the great lie of social media was that it would open up and democratize communication, encouraging people to speak up and speak out on issues important to them. Instead what we ended up with is big companies getting even more of a megaphone than before, giving people the illusion of having a voice (only to find that when everyone has a megaphone, only the loudest and most attacking voices or the most hive-minded comments get perpetuated). And everyone has to constantly preen and groom their "social media presence" because it's all about cultivating a personal brand.
potatolicious 12y ago
Funnily enough Google was really onto something with the concept of Circles. We do not, and should not, want to share everything with everyone a la Twitter and Facebook. The execution of G+ was bungled disastrously, and ass-backwards policies like Real Names ran directly contrary to the original notion of having multiple identities/profiles to present to different people. But I do wish someone would run with this idea again. ... But maybe we don't need to. Social networks with segmented audiences/identities have existed since forever, they're called BBSes and Forums.
eevilspock 12y ago
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." -- Upton Sinclair HN is a sort of social network for coders. Anytime I post something about the evils of advertising, I attract enough downvotes to usually cancel out if not override those who see my points. I can see this as I watch the vote tally constantly go up and down. The sad thing is that the downvotes represent not that my comments are low quality and unworthy of HN, but that they are threatening to a culture that is sadly, for the present at least, beholden to advertising for its very survival.

angersock 12y ago

Fuck'em and post'em, is what I say. Just try to make sure that, if you're going to get flamed, it's a post you'd be proud getting flamed for. They can only downvote you once per post (though the admins and mods may hellban/slowban you if you are enough of a gadfly).

DanAndersen 12y ago

The common realization that things on the Internet are forever causes a terrible amount of sanitization of our opinions and beliefs. It seems like the great lie of social media was that it would open up and democratize communication, encouraging people to speak up and speak out on issues important to them. Instead what we ended up with is big companies getting even more of a megaphone than before, giving people the illusion of having a voice (only to find that when everyone has a megaphone, only the loudest and most attacking voices or the most hive-minded comments get perpetuated). And everyone has to constantly preen and groom their "social media presence" because it's all about cultivating a personal brand.

potatolicious 12y ago

Funnily enough Google was really onto something with the concept of Circles. We do not, and should not, want to share everything with everyone a la Twitter and Facebook. The execution of G+ was bungled disastrously, and ass-backwards policies like Real Names ran directly contrary to the original notion of having multiple identities/profiles to present to different people. But I do wish someone would run with this idea again. ... But maybe we don't need to. Social networks with segmented audiences/identities have existed since forever, they're called BBSes and Forums.

eevilspock 12y ago

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." -- Upton Sinclair HN is a sort of social network for coders. Anytime I post something about the evils of advertising, I attract enough downvotes to usually cancel out if not override those who see my points. I can see this as I watch the vote tally constantly go up and down. The sad thing is that the downvotes represent not that my comments are low quality and unworthy of HN, but that they are threatening to a culture that is sadly, for the present at least, beholden to advertising for its very survival.