Social Cooling – How big data is increasing pressure to conform • Hacker News Board

Re: Social Cooling – How big data is increasing pressure to conform

#201

Post by api » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 1:59 PM UTC

bussierem wrote: post #163

api wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree but I must also point out that in some parts of the country not being a Trump supporter could have serious social consequences. The entire country is not San Francisco.

As much as I love this site and what it provides, the last sentence of your comment should be an all-caps sticky message on the front page at all times... :)

Hah.

It's not just HN. When I talk to other companies I often get asked "are you in the Valley or the city?" Answer: we are in SoCal, so keep going South. Sometimes they are surprised, though they seem to find it reassuring that we're still in California. If we were in Texas or North Carolina I could see that being disorienting to some people.

Re: Social Cooling – How big data is increasing pressure to conform

#202

Post by 20170620-5 » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 2:37 PM UTC

20170619-2 wrote: post #128

bogomipz wrote: post #126

I see this chilling effect manifested sometimes on HN as well. People will create throwaway accounts to comment on certain subjects. An example - there was a discussion a couple of days ago about FB and I questioned why a commenter felt the need to create a fake account simply to comment on FB. It turned out they weren't even a current employee but an ex-employee.

on HN, the mods are directly responsible for the chilling effect. they censor anyone who doesn't tow the company line, or has any kind of strong dissenting opinion. this is achieved by shadow bans, single-IP bans, and then finally by flagging every single IP they've ever logged in under as blacklisted for new account creation. i cycled through 3 or 4 accounts with multiple-thousand-points of karma, but in the end i j…

I was wondering why no-one was voting or commenting my highly dissenting replies here. Now I have the answer.

Re: Social Cooling – How big data is increasing pressure to conform

#203

Post by matt4077 » Tue, Jun 20, 2017, 10:05 PM UTC

peter_retief wrote: post #188

matt4077 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Virtue Signaling" is the most asinine, mean-spirited concept invented since about the middle ages. Its only ever used as a blanket dismissal of others' opinions, even going so far as to blatantly use the moral strength of an argument as a weapon against that argument.

Sure, my wife would mostly agree with you, I don't totally disagree either but try and see the context in why it has become widely used I am going to give you with a quote from Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb - “Never listen to a leftist who does not give away his fortune or does not live the exact lifestyle he wants others to follow. What the French call “the caviar left,” la gauche caviar, or what Anglo-Saxons…

It's a perfectly coherent political position to advocate for higher taxes, including oneself, without being willing to unilaterally give away money. In fact that's the basis of all taxation. And there are many on left, including lots with money, who are advocating for higher taxes for themselves, Warren Buffet being the obvious example.

Re: Social Cooling – How big data is increasing pressure to conform

#204

Post by captainmuon » Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 6:35 AM UTC

oliv__ wrote: post #139

captainmuon wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Notable example is the current president I'm no friend of Trump, but it is disingenious and maybe harmful if most of the criticism is directed against the stupid things he says, his unstatesmanlike behavior, his faux-pases. Or in the spirit of this thread - how unadapted and uncensored his behavior is. Because that can be good and bad, and it's what so many people elected him for. That he is spewing so much hate, h…

This is not about Trump. I was just illustrating my point.

I know, the comment was not directed against you :-) just in general.