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Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

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Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#71

Post by pestaa »

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #10

1) The more sites decide to shut down on the 18th, the easier it becomes for major websites like Google, Twitter, and Facebook to join. It also increases the chances that this is going to be covered by the mainstream media. 2) Perhaps a blackout will give some HNers the final push (and time) to make some phone calls to their representatives. 3) It can serve as a demonstration of what the web will be like if SOPA kick…

What's the probability that major websites join the movement?

One one hand a 24-hour outage would result in loss of a couple of bucks, but on the other, they in fact participated in the IPv6 day, so I'm not sure.

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#73

Post by jmonegro »

tzs wrote: post #69
cheald wrote: post #67

Absolutely. HN's effectively dead if SOPA passes. I know that there aren't a lot of SOPA supporters that use it, but as I said elsewhere, the point of a blackout isn't to punish supporters - it's to motivate people to get involved against SOPA. If your favorite site is inaccessible in protest of SOPA, it might get you more involved in fighting it, which is the whole point.

> HN's effectively dead if SOPA passes How so? I'm having trouble recalling offhand anything posted to HN that would cause HN to run into SOPA trouble.

Say someone posts a link to a website that shows a technical description of how to crack some form of DRM, which is something a good portion of the HN audience would be interested in. One of the companies that use that DRM could get HN shut down.

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#75

Post by erikj54 »

kevinalexbrown wrote: post #62

I wanted to vote no, because it seems so Pyrrhic, maybe a little gimmicky: "See, we shut down a site you don't use!" But if you're asking people to make a sacrifice you're not willing to make yourself, you're a bad leader, period. I'm not saying HN is the bastion of the tech world. But if we're upvoting the Reddit shutdown (at least I did), and we can't turn around and do it ourselves, well, we're not made of very to…

I too agree with your view point. While it may seem like it would be a loss, it may be a first step in getting larger sites on board. It would seem impossible for sites like TechCrunch not to cover a Reedit blackout, as well as HN. If more momentum is gained perhaps the attention of congress could be reached and we can feel like we stood together.

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#77

Post by polshaw »

kevinh wrote: post #47
polshaw wrote: post #21

Something to consider - if HN doesn't go dark it may become a refugee camp for a good chunk of bored reddit users (c. 70m daily pageviews), which could lead to a radical change in HN's userbase. Good to support, too.

On the other hand - publicity gained by going dark along with reddit would raise the amount of people who were aware of HN and could cause more people to come here. Either way, I don't think it's that big of a concern.

I think the effect of people being aware of HN would be quite different from that of HN being available whilst reddit wasn't. Essentially HN is not as 'good' at doing what reddit does (because it's not meant to), so increased awareness isn't likely to shift people from reddit. Take away reddit and things change. It will be interesting to see the effect on the web without reddit for a day. With no serious Digg these days, HN would be high on the list of alternatives (even though it is not aimed as such), and there will no doubt be a lot of SOPA posting that day.

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#79

Post by makeramen »

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #39
vaksel wrote: post #12

HN itself? No All the startups/sites that everyone on here runs? Absolutely You don't even have to go 100% dark, you can just have a splash telling your users about SOPA. You need to realize

Show, don't tell . For most viewers, just showing a notice explaining SOPA will be too abstract. Shutting down your site or service, while putting up a notice, has a higher chance of bringing the point home.

I think you got it backwards. Just displaying a notice is "telling." Actually shutting down is "showing" by doing.

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#80

Post by lallysingh »

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #10

1) The more sites decide to shut down on the 18th, the easier it becomes for major websites like Google, Twitter, and Facebook to join. It also increases the chances that this is going to be covered by the mainstream media. 2) Perhaps a blackout will give some HNers the final push (and time) to make some phone calls to their representatives. 3) It can serve as a demonstration of what the web will be like if SOPA kick…

FWIW, I think if Google, Twitter, and/or Facebook joined, they'd just put up custom messages (maybe with a link?) to an anti-SOPA page.

Of course, the question is, how do they define their political neutrality after this?

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