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A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator

larslofgren.com

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Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator

#491

Post by bapak »

whatever1 wrote: post #127
michaelnovati wrote: post #28

I'm Michael and this was about me. This person never reached out for comment and is missing half the story. I'm happy to fill people in on the rest if this person or someone else wants to hear. I agree with one or two of the characterizations but the majority I don't and there is a lot more to this story than it seems... RE: INDUSTRY. Rithm School (their main competitor) shut down. Hack Reactor is down to single digi…

Oh you are gonna taste your own medicine here. Welcome.

He's not losing millions of dollars by being here. A taste of his own medicine should be given in court.

Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator

#492

Post by detaro »

hilios wrote: post #490
dijit wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the argument here is guilt by association. It's a bit like banning entry into the US because you've visited Russia. It doesn't really matter how Russia runs their own country, you might have even gone there to argue against totalitarian dictatorships. But a US border guard looking at your passport and rejecting your entry based on that alone feels like overreach. How subs choose to moderate their content is r…

>But a US border guard looking at your passport and rejecting your entry based on that alone feels like overreach. This is at least such a common practice, that certain countries issue their entry visas in such a way, that they can be removed from the passport. I'd expect issues entering the US, if I had an Iranian stamp in my passport.

And in some places it's one of the few reasons to get a second passport issued.

Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator

#494

Post by hilios »

LaurensBER wrote: post #421
hilios wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/r/conservative is probably the most heavily censored echo chamber on Reddit, yet somehow you only take issue with other subreddits flagging participation.

Could you be as kind as to point out where I'm _only_ taking issue with the moderation of other subreddits? As you can see in my comment I'm merely listing a few examples.

You're listing several examples, including /r/conservative, yet even though this subreddit is widely known (on Reddit) to be a censored echo-chamber, you do not mention this aspect. I find it hard to believe, that this would be a coincidence.

Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator

#495

Post by vintermann »

spuz wrote: post #197
throwaway8902 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many folks end up in r/zen after reading books like “Zen Mind, Beginners Mind” written by Japanese Zen Buddhists. Ewk is obsessed with the Chinese source material, written by Chan (Chinese for Zen) masters, and believes that the Chinese Chan masters were not Buddhist at all. Many people who come to the subreddit are interested in meditation. It is a big focus of Japanese Zen as practiced in the west. It is not partic…

What you are describing sounds like the behaviour of someone who is passionate, righteous and perhaps obsessed. That is not the case in the case of Michael Novati according to Lars Lofgren's post. He is claiming that Novati's Reddit posts are entirely driven by profit motives, not to do with the truth or passion for the code bootcamp space.

No, I think you misread the post. The story about backstabbing Zuckerberg in a Risk game and boasting about it in his blog, I believe the author included especially to show that it's not just about the profit motive. It's far more about rivalry and crushing your opponents, he's basically saying. Clearly, spending so much time in a forum trash talking a rival (without disclosure) isn't a good investment of time, if profit is the sole motive.

Certainly, such people exist though. The picture he's painting of Novati is not something I'd find terribly surprising from an ex-Facebook code boot camp entrepreneur.

Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator

#496

Post by potato3732842 »

safety1st wrote: post #226
neilv wrote: post #84

I don't know about this particular case, but, generally... bad actor subreddit moderators have been an occasional thing for well over a decade. And it's also been widely known for that long that Reddit is an influential venue in which to take over a corner -- for marketing or propaganda. What's an equal concern to me is how insufficiently resilient Reddit collectively appears to be, in face of this. A bad actor mod o…

Reddit has a moderation problem, and it's a big one. They've now been asked to appear in front of Congress to address concerns about politically motivated violence being incited through their platform: https://oversight.house.gov/release/chairman-comer-invites-c... Personally I believe I've seen more people in the past few years wish a politically motivated death on somebody else via Reddit, than I have anywhere else…

It's not a moderation problem. It's a design decision fundamental to their platform architecture.

Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator

#497

Post by cr3ative »

truetraveller wrote: post #456
cr3ative wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This expectation that someone should approach you for comment (and the suggestion that the fact they haven’t matters for neutrality) is misguided.

Huh? This is a strange take.

You're right, and thanks for the note - gave me a chance to reflect. I think what I mean is more along the lines that while a right to reply would have been polite, it isn't required of a blogger, and wouldn't change the substance of the post much, which is largely about a pattern of behaviour rather than specifics. Michael's attempts to dismiss/discredit the post based on a process which generally only applies to the press is what sits badly with me.

Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator

#498

Post by truetraveller »

michaelnovati wrote: post #349

I'm going to focus on the MODERATION ACCUSATION first since that seems to be the main issue. What moderating r/codingbootcamp actually looks like: I don't own the sub - I report to the owner who asked me to help after I'd been one of the most active and helpful contributors. The coding bootcamp industry is absolutely infested with astroturfing. Brand new accounts, manufactured conversations, fake testimonials. It's c…

Oh, one more thing. All of these "bootcamp" companies are known to be bad, and HN knows this. Perhaps "Codesmith" is better, I can believe that. I did a quick search, and it does seem like it's above the pack. I'm not trying to knock down Codesmith, the founder Will seems genuine. but it's still very plausible it has some of the same "badness" of bootcamps, at least according to Michael. And one might ask, why did Michael focus on Codesmith? The answer is two-fold. 1) he targeted other bootcamps as well 2) and Codesmith claimed explicitly they were unlike other bootcamps, and Michael was on a personal "jihad" to make sure they were called out.

Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator

#499

Post by bibabaloo »

nubinetwork wrote: post #187
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #3

Reddit should not be considered an authoritative source. Period. At this point it's the most astroturfed place on the internet. Accounts are bought and sold like cheap commodities. It's inherently unreliable. That said, in this instance Codesmith actually has an unusually strong defamation case. That Reddit mod is not anonymous, and has made solid claims (about nepotism with fabricated details, accusations of resume…

> Reddit should not be considered an authoritative source. Period. I cringe inside every time I search for something, and the first autocomplete is "mysearchterm reddit"

The problem is that the alternative is usually only sites created only to chase affiliate revenue. At least on Reddit, there’s a _chance_ I’m reading something from someone genuinely sharing their opinion.

Re: A competitor crippled a $23.5M bootcamp by becoming a Reddit moderator

#500

Post by jongjong »

bapak wrote: post #488
jongjong wrote: post #471

I shudder at the thought of "striving to become a Reddit moderator." So much effort to achieve such a petty political goal. What sort of person does this? I cannot comprehend people who would spend their life doing that... Out of all the things a person could do. Do Reddit moderators get a kick out of manipulating people's beliefs and banning people discussing niche topics? I don't get it.

Power. Spending 5 hours a day spamming and commenting is extremely easy compared to actually doing something positive for society. I think everyone here has demonstrated how a mod is objectively lying or wrong and gotten banned for it. From their point of view, they won. For a loser, winning online arguments is the best feeling in the world.

Resonates. IMO, if it pays a fixed salary, that's one thing. Makes sense. But as some means of gaining power over others; or for kickbacks, it's pathetic.
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