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Ask HN: Does anyone else lie on the internet?

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Re: Ask HN: Does anyone else lie on the internet?

#31

Post by evocatus »

viraptor wrote: post #30

> Over the years I've found writing on HackerNews, Reddit and other online sites has given me an outlet to get creative and engage with folks in a way that will shift discourse towards something I'm more interested in. Have you tried looking for communities for creative writing? There are places (including reddit) that post/accept writing prompts which spawn some discussion. You can do what you do, write fiction, get…

Sounds like telling someone how a magic trick works before you perform it.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone else lie on the internet?

#32

Post by magic_hamster »

teg4n_ wrote: post #2

Have you ever thought that you might be making the internet a worse place and negatively impacting the people interact with? Do you care?

I agree with this sentiment. Instead of spreading misinformation for sake of "being corrected" or "instigating a discussion", you can just ask for more info and pursue knowledge. You need to understand that some of your BS comments that exist only to fuel the discussion can be repeated by people who actually believe you know what you're talking about, or worse, they can make decisions based on your "informed" comment. It could be destructive.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone else lie on the internet?

#34

Post by magic_hamster »

quaintdev wrote: post #24

Some people in comments are saying you are troll for doing this. I do not understand how this makes you a troll. When you post these comments are you willing to accept defeat when you are wrong? If your answer is yes, you are not a troll. Commenting on something you have no idea about is not bad per se. In fact, it brings a perspective of an outsider in the discussion.

It's perfectly fine to join a discussion as an outsider but don't present your opinion like you're an expert, someone might actually believe you.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone else lie on the internet?

#35

Post by handsclean »

Yeah, lots. Not most people, though. You seem like a pretty typical NPD case: all your reasons are about you, casual manipulation including in the way you’re treating people in the comments, little empathy, and increased desire for attention, be it upvotes or the outrage you’re trying to elicit by posting this.

Places like Reddit and Facebook are filled with this. What generally happens is the individual succeeds, but the community becomes boring, because people who can’t support each other never achieve much.

I wish you luck in finding your way to bigger and better things.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone else lie on the internet?

#37

Post by ComradePhil »

> I live in South Africa in a gated community with 24/7 guard patrols and 12 ft high barbed wire fences.

> I've never stepped foot in the continent of Africa

Wow, you have a problem.

And meanwhile, dang has rate-limited me when I try to only post things I am willing to say in person.

Maybe LinkedIn (where everyone knows who everyone is) is the only place for honest discussion. HN clone with "sign up with LinkedIn" exclusively anyone? But then, maybe some people will hold back their true opinions or lie about things to appease their employers/employees/governments/public etc. Having to change jobs over one of these comments would be no fun.

Maybe like ClubHouse (where you have to be invited by someone else on your real phone number) but where you don't necessarily reveal your full identity to the public... but since some people would know, you can't blatantly lie either... i.e. gives you plausable deniability when you need it but some people still know who you are to prevent you from lying... and then it works kinda like twitter where you can write posts or share links, which has a feed based on upvotes like HN... And you can write arbitarily long posts. Elon Musk should make that maybe?

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone else lie on the internet?

#39

Post by fifticon »

Lying on the internet is so ingrained, it is part of its fabric. There are several core memes based on it ("are you saying someone would post something untruthful on the internet??"). I'm not even lying (much) here. However, truths have also, from time to time, allegedly been posted to the internet. People aren't even very truthful in person, so with anonymity and distance, you have the nuclear bomb of lies on internet. Right now, russia is insisting any factual reporting from Ukraine is deepfakes.. :-(.
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