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Tell HN: Facebook is blocking the publiccode.eu open letter initiative as spam

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Re: Tell HN: Facebook is blocking the publiccode.eu open letter initiative as spam

#51

Post by e-clinton »

pmlnr wrote: post #40
learndeeply wrote: post #3

Why would facebook block an open source initiative, considering that they've contributed a ton of open source software (react, graphql, pytorch, etc)? The more simple explanation is that an automated detector misclassified the link because it shares patterns with spam links.

open source software from bigco it's only a smoke and mirrors to make it look like they are nice. https://publiccode.eu/ and the current legislation trends in the EU are not fun, because they are not able to drive the narrative.

“open source software from bigco it's only a smoke and mirrors to make it look like they are nice.”

So the React ecosystem is smoke and mirrors? GraphQL?

Re: Tell HN: Facebook is blocking the publiccode.eu open letter initiative as spam

#53

Post by trompetenaccoun »

Aeolun wrote: post #43
danschumann wrote: post #38

With so many large "crime waves", these small ripples which seem like crimes... Are they? Is MZ(read: Mark Zuckerberg) next to AC(read: Al Capone)? Does he still, in his heart of hearts, refer to his users as "stupid *f's"(as he referred to them in 2000's for "trusting" him. Nothing changed to make his users any smarter, so getting caught openly admitting how he feels did not change his opinion on his users, merely c…

Does anyone here not consider Facebook users “stupid f*’s” for trusting him?

You could say this about any other network people take part in. The majority is always stupid from the point of view of someone above average intelligence. Does that justify exploiting them though? Are people fair game to be ripped off because they're naive or too busy with other stuff to be able to care?

I can trick a child into handing over their proverbial candy too but that doesn't make it mine to keep.

Re: Tell HN: Facebook is blocking the publiccode.eu open letter initiative as spam

#54

Post by radford-neal »

crayboff wrote: post #47
entropyie wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar to arguments about getting human support from Google being impossible... There is a very simple solution: allow users to pay a modest amount, say €25, to get 10 minutes of real human support. This will immediately rule out people spamming at scale. The other side of this equation, is that if the ban is upheld, they must justify it in human terms, beyond : "the ML said it's bad". A positive judgement could the…

That would be immediately seen as Facebook charging people to be unbanned. That would lead to people claiming FB bans accounts to make money.

Then have the money go straight to some uncontroversial charity. Facebook still benefits by the reduction in frivolous support requests, perhaps making this a feasible option.

Re: Tell HN: Facebook is blocking the publiccode.eu open letter initiative as spam

#55

Post by bavell »

Cederfjard wrote: post #45
b112 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook has a much more profitable revenue stream than you ever had, and as I mentioned, the ability to code tools to vastly improve the moderation workflow. There is nothing wrong with automatic flagging, only with automatic action after that flagging. And key here is, a way to legitimately dispute. Your case is not a parallel case.

You seem confident in this, so I assume you have run the numbers. How many support agents do you need to moderate 3bn monthly active accounts?

We don't know because they haven't even tried, they'd rather make excuses which conveniently also make them richer.

Re: Tell HN: Facebook is blocking the publiccode.eu open letter initiative as spam

#56

Post by cuteboy19 »

lolinder wrote: post #50
pmlnr wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

open source software from bigco it's only a smoke and mirrors to make it look like they are nice. https://publiccode.eu/ and the current legislation trends in the EU are not fun, because they are not able to drive the narrative.

First, whether you like React or not, it's hard to argue that the most popular JavaScript framework is "just smoke and mirrors". It might be great PR, but there's also a lot of substance to it. Second, even if publiccode.eu doesn't help Facebook in any way, that's not evidence that they have motive to intentionally block it. You'd have to demonstrate that they have some reason to want the initiative to fail, not just…

Does metabook create government related software? I can understand such behaviour from Microsoft, not sure what the motivation would be for FB

Re: Tell HN: Facebook is blocking the publiccode.eu open letter initiative as spam

#57

Post by Vinnl »

learndeeply wrote: post #3

Why would facebook block an open source initiative, considering that they've contributed a ton of open source software (react, graphql, pytorch, etc)? The more simple explanation is that an automated detector misclassified the link because it shares patterns with spam links.

Another alternative explanation that wouldn't require Facebook's malice, assuming that this initiative does have its opponents, is that Facebook's some reporting tools were weaponised, i.e. lots of false reports caused the automated detector to misclassify it.

(I don't actually expect it to have such staunch opponents, though, so the misclassification is probably due to other reasons.)

Re: Tell HN: Facebook is blocking the publiccode.eu open letter initiative as spam

#58

Post by smoldesu »

pmlnr wrote: post #40
learndeeply wrote: post #3

Why would facebook block an open source initiative, considering that they've contributed a ton of open source software (react, graphql, pytorch, etc)? The more simple explanation is that an automated detector misclassified the link because it shares patterns with spam links.

open source software from bigco it's only a smoke and mirrors to make it look like they are nice. https://publiccode.eu/ and the current legislation trends in the EU are not fun, because they are not able to drive the narrative.

I mean... yes. This is the case with Microsoft, Apple, Google and pretty much anyone else on the Fortune 500 that owns a software stack. I still find it hard to believe Facebook would go out of their way to intentionally flag random political articles for seemingly minimal gain.

Re: Tell HN: Facebook is blocking the publiccode.eu open letter initiative as spam

#59

Post by tomc1985 »

IntrepidWorm wrote: post #19
madsbuch wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should hire more people to do things they have not successfully automated! Oh, maybe that would carve too much into the profit margin? Luckily we do have governance that can make companies comply with doing ethical business -- even though they don't hit bulls eyes every time.

Legally, the government can force compliance by large technical companies. In practice, there's no current chance of that happening. Believing that Facebook, Google, Twitter et. al. are beholden to the government given the past several years is somewhat laughable. Government is slow, and tech business is fast. Our politicians cannot keep up, even when they try.

This sort of naive, haughty attitude is why I can't stand hanging out with tech people in person any more.

Re: Tell HN: Facebook is blocking the publiccode.eu open letter initiative as spam

#60

Post by baby »

b112 wrote: post #23
forgotmypw17 wrote: post #5

Facebook is fighting against the "huge target on its back" effect. The bigger of an audience you are, the more interest there is in posting abusive content, whether it's spam, trolling, or something else. The result is usually that you end up digging a bigger and bigger moat around your submission and curation process, so that your service is not completely flooded with crap. I think this is what you are seeing here,…

Or maybe, they are trying to cost-save, by using algorithmic methods to block people, and spam? And maybe, just like the little guy, they should curtail, and moderate manually? There is no reason they cannot, other than it costs. And if the "little guy" can manually moderate a forum, and respond to unblock requests, then it is no problem for Facebook, or any other big player too. In truth, Facebook would still save o…

You know reddit is basically based on that and is suffering heavily from not being able to find moderators for its communities? Now increase than exponentially and you get fb communities
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