Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 72 posts

Re: A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

#61

Post by smacktoward »

ethbro wrote: post #56
smacktoward wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually got approached myself to write something like this recently. I blog occasionally about defense issues. I got a call out of the blue from someone who said they liked something I'd written about the F-35 (this: https://jasonlefkowitz.net/2013/08/stovl-the-f-35-and-how-we... ), and would I be interested in getting paid to write an op-ed about the current state of the F-35 program? I'm always interested in get…

Any comment on what price was offered? Curious what the going cost for funding this type of activity is. I assume drastically cheaper than desired result profits, but in comparison to traditional advertising?

I didn't get far enough in this particular conversation to suss out what they're willing to pay. Generally speaking, freelance writers are paid on the order of pennies per word. Writer's Market has some guidelines for freelancers on pricing their work here: http://www.writersmarket.com/assets/pdf/how_much_should_i_ch...

Re: A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

#62

Post by ceejayoz »

perl4ever wrote: post #44
ceejayoz wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Boeing often employs PR firms against their competitors" is hardly a conspiracy theory.

However, Boeing is not the only entity whose lunch SpaceX is threatening to eat. Wonder if other could be involved.

Well, if you read the article, it traces back the op-eds to the people submitting them, who work for a PR firm, which has Boeing highlighted as one of their three big case studies on their website.

Re: A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

#63

Post by FireBeyond »

oh_sigh wrote: post #46
FireBeyond wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what of safety of people on the ground, in areas where a device may crash land? And so on and so forth? Should we disregard safety on their account, too?

When does spacex launch over populated areas? They are either launching into polar orbits on the west coast or florida for non-polar orbits, neither of which overflies populated areas.

How are your space tourists getting back to earth? Or are they landing in the ocean too?

Re: A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

#64

Post by greglindahl »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #49
imglorp wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Boeing having trouble competing on all of features, price, and schedule? I think the story is more complicated as always - If you watch Scott Manley's channel, I think there's a few mission profiles that ULA can do better than SpaceX. One launcher can't do everything well.

I think right now Boeing is ahead schedule-wise, but it's a bit of a coin flip for who will launch first. I wouldn't be surprised if they're within 3 months of each other, both for the initial test and the first crewed test.

NASA says Boeing is behind. This press release is dated today:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/launch-dates-to-be-updated-more...

Re: A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

#65

Post by maccam94 »

vl wrote: post #38

But why fueling continues after crew has boarded? What is the technical reason?

The rocket runs on extremely cold fuel. It's impossible to perfectly maintain that temperature in the tank, so the fuel is constantly expanding and venting out of the tank so it doesn't explode. You can keep adding more chilled fuel to the tank though, so the goal is to top off the tank as close to launch as possible.

Re: A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

#66

Post by fouc »

smacktoward wrote: post #61
ethbro wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any comment on what price was offered? Curious what the going cost for funding this type of activity is. I assume drastically cheaper than desired result profits, but in comparison to traditional advertising?

I didn't get far enough in this particular conversation to suss out what they're willing to pay. Generally speaking, freelance writers are paid on the order of pennies per word. Writer's Market has some guidelines for freelancers on pricing their work here: http://www.writersmarket.com/assets/pdf/how_much_should_i_ch...

Ok, given that they approached you, and based on the per project prices suggested in that link, it could've been around $2.5k and up.

Re: A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

#67

Post by Latteland »

fouc wrote: post #66
smacktoward wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't get far enough in this particular conversation to suss out what they're willing to pay. Generally speaking, freelance writers are paid on the order of pennies per word. Writer's Market has some guidelines for freelancers on pricing their work here: http://www.writersmarket.com/assets/pdf/how_much_should_i_ch...

Ok, given that they approached you, and based on the per project prices suggested in that link, it could've been around $2.5k and up.

Is is immoral to write something that you might not feel is exactly a lie but pushes an opinion that you don't agree with very strongly? I think this is immoral, but if someone needed the money I wouldn't quibble as much. I know some people will just say that is PR but you can give the press a helpful to your side view of the world without lying and creating a false perception that someone supports something they really don't. But I'm kind of an idealist :-)

Re: A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

#68

Post by oh_sigh »

FireBeyond wrote: post #63
oh_sigh wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When does spacex launch over populated areas? They are either launching into polar orbits on the west coast or florida for non-polar orbits, neither of which overflies populated areas.

How are your space tourists getting back to earth? Or are they landing in the ocean too?

Usually happens with a glider or parachutes. In pretty much every case though the vehicle is coming down with next to no fuel on board, and the mass and size of the on-the-pad vehicle has been greatly reduced(due to various stages breaking away).

Re: A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

#69

Post by fouc »

Latteland wrote: post #67
fouc wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, given that they approached you, and based on the per project prices suggested in that link, it could've been around $2.5k and up.

Is is immoral to write something that you might not feel is exactly a lie but pushes an opinion that you don't agree with very strongly? I think this is immoral, but if someone needed the money I wouldn't quibble as much. I know some people will just say that is PR but you can give the press a helpful to your side view of the world without lying and creating a false perception that someone supports something they rea…

I agree it is immoral

Re: A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

#70

Post by [deleted] »

na412 wrote: post #30
bovermyer wrote: post #8

Short version of the article: One op-ed article attacking SpaceX's safety practices appears in the newspapers of several space-industry-oriented cities. The article is not written by the person it is attributed to, but rather by two people apparently affiliated with a PR firm in Washington, DC. One of the three main clients of said PR firm is Boeing, SpaceX's direct competitor.

The article is actually rather vague about whether the op-ed was written by Hagar. It says: > To try to understand his viewpoint, Ars attempted to reach Hagar by phone and email in September. In the course of this process, we learned that he did not actually submit many of these op-eds. Since the article claims to be about one op-ed piece submitted to many places, it seems reasonable to assume he wrote it, but that t…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN