I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation • Hacker News Board

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#91

Post by VerminOctopus1 » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 2:03 PM UTC

gorhill wrote: post #48

A personal observation in the Chrome store. I created an extension which I published in the Chrome store. I did notice a curious statistics with another similar purpose extension, which is also quite popular -- both are over 1 million users: The ratings-per-user ratio for the other extension is almost 5 times that of my extension.[1] I can't figure any other convincing explanation for this other than the other extens…

Perhaps the other extension is prompting the user for a rating like you see so often in Android/iOS apps. This tactic genuinely works. If not, then yes, it's plausible that they're buying ratings.

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#92

Post by dceddia » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 2:05 PM UTC

kevindeasis wrote: post #55

Paul Graham said that if there is alot of potential energy from a broken system there must be a way to monetize it. Really, it seems like someone can make a startup to verify the company and reviews. In fact, why dont we all open source this thing.

That sounds a lot like Dun & Bradstreet[0], no?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dun_%26_Bradstreet

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#93

Post by wodenokoto » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 2:16 PM UTC

matthewmacleod wrote: post #11

This site brought up at lease two separate overlay popups while attempting to read it. I don't usually complain about this, but that's totally obnoxious and meant I didn't finish reading the article. Is there a good method to block this aggressively user-unfriendly bullshit?

Firefox and Safari has a build in reader-view. In either browser they show up in the URL bar, on safar it's a few horizontal lines, in Firefox it's a little open book.

It'll strip all menus, ads and other cruft leaving you just the text, headlines and pictures nicely formatted.

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#94

Post by mratzloff » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 2:23 PM UTC

logicallee wrote: post #54

As an entrepreneur, I became so disappointed with this article about 60% of the way through, that I had to stop reading. When the author started getting phone calls on his burner phone from people wanting to hire his van, he should have manned up, stuck with this damn business, and written instead about bootstrapping. With stats like the ones he reported, he should have stuck with Freakin' Awesome Karaoke Express eve…

Maybe it's not his life's ambition to own and operate a truck that drives around to cater to screeching drunk people?

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#95

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 2:26 PM UTC

oalders wrote: post #90

wanderfowl wrote: post #70

If you're a street musician setting up to play with an open instrument case, it's pretty important to "seed the pot" by throwing a few dollars and some change into the case. Not because you make any money from your own "donation", but because it shows passers-by what the arrangement is, and adds an element of social pressure ("Somebody donated, so I should too!"). I can see this as similar. There's something pathetic…

I used to go to a cafe where they often had a $20 bill in the tip jar near the cash register. I always felt like that bill hadn't been left by a customer...

[deleted]

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#96

Post by logicallee » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 2:29 PM UTC

greggarious wrote: post #89

logicallee wrote: post #54

As an entrepreneur, I became so disappointed with this article about 60% of the way through, that I had to stop reading. When the author started getting phone calls on his burner phone from people wanting to hire his van, he should have manned up, stuck with this damn business, and written instead about bootstrapping. With stats like the ones he reported, he should have stuck with Freakin' Awesome Karaoke Express eve…

Out of curiosity, why do you assume the author is male?

I'm not going to update my comment because it would look like I made the premature birth analogy due to the author's gender, which I literally had incorrectly assumed was male (so my comment and choice of analogy was absolutely not due to the author's gender).

Sorry about the mistake/assumption. You asked why I made the mistake - no particular reason. (Though anecdotally I've heard males talk about these kinds of actions, while women business owners I know don't, in fact are principled about not buying fake reviews, likes, or twitter followers. The first paragraph also says "You might have seen a review on Yelp that said it’s perfect for a girl’s night out" which I read as a male stating it. Anyway I shouldn't have made the assumption.)

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#97

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 2:31 PM UTC

mratzloff wrote: post #94

logicallee wrote: post #54

As an entrepreneur, I became so disappointed with this article about 60% of the way through, that I had to stop reading. When the author started getting phone calls on his burner phone from people wanting to hire his van, he should have manned up, stuck with this damn business, and written instead about bootstrapping. With stats like the ones he reported, he should have stuck with Freakin' Awesome Karaoke Express eve…

Maybe it's not his life's ambition to own and operate a truck that drives around to cater to screeching drunk people?

[deleted]

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#98

Post by wpietri » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 2:31 PM UTC

Retra wrote: post #37

techstrategist wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 5 USD bill.

I was thinking a penny, but that makes so much more sense.

As far as I know, it's not something people say in real life, just a funny turn of phrase; "a Benjamin" is the only common use of a president's name for the denomination.

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#99

Post by rcarrigan87 » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 2:33 PM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #49

rcarrigan87 wrote: post #33

This is particularly bad in the moving industry. Not only are movers notorious for bribing customers to post good reviews but there are also several well ranking "Moving Specific" review sites that are completely fake. The industry also happens to have some of the most horrific scams...

The less frequently someone needs a given service, the more confusing (in the best case) and scammy (in the normal to worse case), the sales process is. Look at weddings, funerals, residential remodels, residential HVAC, and the like as other examples. Some of those make used car sales look pleasant and transparent...

Good point. Anything with low repeat buying is going to run into these problems. That's why verified reviews are so critical in these verticals.

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#100

Post by iaskwhy » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 2:34 PM UTC

gorhill wrote: post #50

iaskwhy wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the feeling having NoScript can be more annoying that not having it so I have been procrastinating installing it...

I use "medium mode" in uBlock[1], which causes only 3rd-party scripts/frames to be blocked, not 1st-party ones. I could read the article fine, I had no idea there were issues with overlays with it, and it otherwise rendered fine. Not blocking 1st-party scripts remove a lot of the tediousness of blocking scripts by default. [1] https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-mode:-medium...

Thanks for the suggestion, it looks very interesting. And, obviously, thanks for all the work on uBlock Origin, interneting got much less annoying after installing it in every machine I get my hands on. Thanks!