Why do sites like this disable pinchzoom? What purpose does it serve?
Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users
61–70 of 161 posts
Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users
#62Earlier 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'm certain I've come across these incidents, but the one thing they and the SO recruits will have in common is that they don't understand what makes a community[1]. That is still their biggest weakness.
Also, from what I've seen, astroturfing for ideology is far more effective than for products since often that's something the participant believes in. And it's easier to elicit emotions over ideology than products (unless we're talking programming languages, but then that's sacred ground to begin with).
[1] SO is most certainly not a "community".
Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users
#63The agency (FLLU) seem really small. Too small in fact, because most companies would engage a substantially larger firm and have account managers and would handle all of this stuff coherently from one place rather than use potentially hundreds of firms this size (3 people). Before everyone jumps to conclusions... could it not be the case that someone with just a very small bit of budget said "Wouldn't it be great if.…
Samsung hires lots of small companies, usually on a per-project basis.
Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users
#64What is even better is that you complained about this in a blog, and posted to Hacker News. Before this I didn't know anything about the Samsung Androids, but thanks to your blog and posting on Hacker News probably more people know about this than any fake $500 posting on stackoverflow. And, Samsung didn't have to pay a cent for your publicity -- or maybe they did pay you for this clever bit of marketing.
Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users
#65Anyone who finds this shocking, I have news for you; every large company has been and is doing this type of astroturfing all over the internet for well over a decade now. I guess it can be surprising when you get asked to participate in it directly, but every type of site that's driven by "the public" (Slashdot, Digg, reddit, Twitter, Stack Overflow, etc.) is going to be a target for this type of activity. It's usual…
Really? Come on. To be fair, since the immediate comparison that jumps to mind is between Samsung and Apple, let's put it right on the table: I don't think Apple does this.
Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
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! ;)
Excellent. Not being in Texas anymore has me stranded in a sea of poor BBQ (if you can even call it that). There is simply nothing worth eating in Omaha. The more options the better.
Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users
#67You realize you're promoting it on HN now right?
Merely discussing something is not promoting it. The GLBT community has fought this battle again and again, when various parties sought to suppress any mention of homosexuality in public schools, because that would be "promoting the homosexual lifestyle". This discussion may make more people aware of the Samsung contest, but it is in no way a promotion of it.
Max Clifford I think it was said something along the lines of "there's no such thing as bad publicity".
If people are discussing something then you've made them aware of it, you've shown them "this is worth discussing" and you've displayed it as normative. Ergo promotion.
Samsung have got more publicity from this guy than they'd have got if they paid for it. Indeed the conspiracy theorist in me wants to research whether this is actually the primary method of promotion that was intended ... but that's just madness.
Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users
#68Anyone who finds this shocking, I have news for you; every large company has been and is doing this type of astroturfing all over the internet for well over a decade now. I guess it can be surprising when you get asked to participate in it directly, but every type of site that's driven by "the public" (Slashdot, Digg, reddit, Twitter, Stack Overflow, etc.) is going to be a target for this type of activity. It's usual…
It also is found most podcasts; if you hear a recommendation in a podcast, there is a high likelyhood that the recommended company sponsors|ed the podcast -- either through money, access, or 'perks'. Even in cases where sponsorship is disclosed, there is generally no separation between the podcasters and the acquisition of sponsors.
Editorial integrity is long dead on the Internet; its long since time to get used to turning a critical eye to technology-related editorial content.
Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users
#69This 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…
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…
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.
It's only the clueless an lazy ones that get caught like this.
Those seem fairly contradictory to me. Unless you are saying HN and pg are clueless and lazy, then I guess not.
Re: Samsung agency is buying off StackOverflow users
#70I'm the developer of a small but "better than current offerings" product. Everywhere my product gets mention two or three shills jump in to recommend theirs. Wecome to WebSpam 2.0