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Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users

delyan.me

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Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users

#51

Post by roc »

eksith wrote: post #30
bowlofpetunias wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of touch? This guy maybe, but I would be surprised if SO, like most other communities, wasn't already successfully being gamed by marketeers a hell of a lot smarter than this clown. And let's not have the illusion that HN an pg are too smart to be manipulated by people that are at least as clever as we are but who have specialized themselves in manipulating people instead of bits and bytes. No place where human b…

I'll bite. "And let's not have the illusion that HN an pg are too smart to be manipulated by people..." You're vastly underestimating how many people are interconnected in this hodgepodge of gray matter we call HN. Blind allegiance (or antipathy) is not how things work here. Part of the reason this community is different from others is that the best way to respect people like pg or tptacek or anyone else who's been a…

> "Blind allegiance (or antipathy) is not how things work here."

You may have missed a few threads. HN has had brand/tribe/loyalty slap-fights. More than a few. And more frequently as of late.

Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users

#53

Post by wavefunction »

damoncali wrote: post #44
GrinningFool wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once tried to send a brisket email. It... did not end well.

I've gotten brisket in the mail. It is surprisingly good considering it was shipped accross the country. http://www.rudysbbq.com/store/c-10-smoked-meats.aspx

if you're going to get BBQ shipped to you, you might as well go a little bit further than Rudy's (Rudy's is... OK I guess...)

http://www.snowsbbq.com/

Better yet, show up in person on a Saturday before 11ish when they sell out of all their meat and enjoy some BBQ for breakfast! ;)

Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users

#54

Post by gnoway »

farmdawgnation wrote: post #6

This is, in my mind, evidence that companies like this are out of touch. They want to treat Stack Overflow like a search engine and marketing tool to be optimized, and, in their ignorance, don't see it as something different than what it actually is: a community of people passionate about their craft and helping others with it. Eventually people are going to learn that the way you leverage a community like that towar…

They aren't really out of touch at all. They (or more specifically their marketing arms) just don't care about abusing "communities of people passionate about *" for advertising purposes.

This is really no different than stuffing your mailbox with flyers, sending you spam or having the tv people write product placement into your favorite show.

Evidently it works, which is really disappointing.

Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users

#55

Post by eksith »

roc wrote: post #51
eksith wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll bite. "And let's not have the illusion that HN an pg are too smart to be manipulated by people..." You're vastly underestimating how many people are interconnected in this hodgepodge of gray matter we call HN. Blind allegiance (or antipathy) is not how things work here. Part of the reason this community is different from others is that the best way to respect people like pg or tptacek or anyone else who's been a…

> "Blind allegiance (or antipathy) is not how things work here." You may have missed a few threads. HN has had brand/tribe/loyalty slap-fights. More than a few. And more frequently as of late.

But among which parties?

Blind allegiance and antipathy tend to bump into things frequently. The noise they cause makes them easy to spot.

There's noise in any community, but if it's the same alley cats, you learn to ignore them. I always scroll below to the end of the threads (one of the reasons I never seem to get anything done after landing on HN) to see what I've missed. The populist upvotes aren't always the most interesting and below aren't the least so as long as you follow your own rhythm, not swayed by language, it's easy to tell when someone tackles ideas than sentiment.

Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users

#57

Post by brudgers »

jacquesm wrote: post #46
eksith wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll bite. "And let's not have the illusion that HN an pg are too smart to be manipulated by people..." You're vastly underestimating how many people are interconnected in this hodgepodge of gray matter we call HN. Blind allegiance (or antipathy) is not how things work here. Part of the reason this community is different from others is that the best way to respect people like pg or tptacek or anyone else who's been a…

HN is being used for astroturfing according to PG.

With it's connection to YC there's a bit of it implicit in the model - e.g. YC applications.

And, no I am not finding fault with the connection to YC or the special status, just pointing out that the HN playing field is not natural grass, and that it is that way for very reasonable reasons and that it is, in my opinion, almost certainly to the benefit of the HN community.

On a site with a larger commercial tie in, "astroturfing" like "weed" in a horticultural setting lacks scientific definition.

Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users

#58

Post by damoncali »

jacquesm wrote: post #46
eksith wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll bite. "And let's not have the illusion that HN an pg are too smart to be manipulated by people..." You're vastly underestimating how many people are interconnected in this hodgepodge of gray matter we call HN. Blind allegiance (or antipathy) is not how things work here. Part of the reason this community is different from others is that the best way to respect people like pg or tptacek or anyone else who's been a…

HN is being used for astroturfing according to PG.

I would even bet you could detect it algorithmically without having access to the server logs. It's usually pretty obvious if you're paying attention to such things. What's interesting is that successful gaming of HN usually involves genuinely interesting content. It may not be front page interesting in it's own right, but there is a lot out there that could be on the front page. Some of it just needs a little push. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users

#59

Post by at-fates-hands »

Another warning to big companies who are employing sketchy marketing companies. With more and more of these stories coming out, I'm wondering when companies are going to stop taking chances with these "agencies" and simply bring their marketing back in house. Then they can have more control and oversight on what goes on with their brand.

This just makes Samsung and the whole Android community look bad, regardless of who actually was doing it.

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