Day 1 of political experiment, minor success

#1

Post by fsokhansanj » Wed, Dec 12, 2012, 4:12 AM UTC

I started a liberal news aggregate site a few days ago (basically its Drudge Report but for left-wing news) and noticed I was getting way way way more hits than my actual start-up which provides free legal documents and information. (www.palinverse.com)

I was wondering why a political page would be more popular than documents and legal info that are worth thousands of dollars.

Then I wondered if hardcore Republicans would be more likely to buy into the news aggregate BS than the Democrats, so I launched a hard hard hard right website and decided I would conduct a study on the matter. (www.patriotsforjesus.com).

Day 1 result:

I quoted Hitler on my Republican website landing page (something about Jesus and patriotism) and attributed the quote to Thomas Jefferson. (I thought it would be hilarious to have a major Republican standard-bearer quote Hitler, and it would prove their inability to verify claims or facts). A Republican FB group has taken that quote with Jefferson attached and disseminated it to their 2,000 fans and now their fans are sharing it to their page. Also, I've noticed I'm getting far more hits on the Republican page than the Democrat page. It seems like conservatives react much quicker and disseminate information much more rapidly than liberals do.

Re: Day 1 of political experiment, minor success

#2

Post by philiphodgen » Wed, Dec 12, 2012, 5:44 PM UTC

The Hitler trick might make you feel superior, but do this a couple of more times and you'll have destroyed a potentially valuable asset just because you want to feel smug.

If you want to do A/B testing, do A/B testing. Don't pee in your own swimming pool.

Re: Day 1 of political experiment, minor success

#3

Post by fsokhansanj » Wed, Dec 12, 2012, 6:35 PM UTC

philiphodgen wrote: post #2

The Hitler trick might make you feel superior, but do this a couple of more times and you'll have destroyed a potentially valuable asset just because you want to feel smug. If you want to do A/B testing, do A/B testing. Don't pee in your own swimming pool.

I genuinely wasn't doing it to feel superior. The goal is to collect enough data to conclusively verify that the hard right values rhetoric and propaganda over facts and that they are more susceptible to propaganda than the left is. In the process I've also learned that the hard right is more likely to make something viral than the left is.

Regardless, it is an ongoing experiment so I will update it accordingly and probably publish something once I have enough data.

Also, I can probably make some money off the Republican website (more than the Democrat website) but I don't view it as a valuable asset. No matter how big it gets at the end I will dismantle it because it is a net-negative to our society.

Re: Day 1 of political experiment, minor success

#4

Post by Mz » Wed, Dec 12, 2012, 6:37 PM UTC

fsokhansanj wrote: post #3

philiphodgen wrote: post #2

The Hitler trick might make you feel superior, but do this a couple of more times and you'll have destroyed a potentially valuable asset just because you want to feel smug. If you want to do A/B testing, do A/B testing. Don't pee in your own swimming pool.

I genuinely wasn't doing it to feel superior. The goal is to collect enough data to conclusively verify that the hard right values rhetoric and propaganda over facts and that they are more susceptible to propaganda than the left is. In the process I've also learned that the hard right is more likely to make something viral than the left is. Regardless, it is an ongoing experiment so I will update it accordingly and p…

I think what was intended is that posting this announcement on hn corrupts your data.

Re: Day 1 of political experiment, minor success

#5

Post by runjake » Wed, Dec 12, 2012, 6:54 PM UTC

fsokhansanj wrote: post #3

philiphodgen wrote: post #2

The Hitler trick might make you feel superior, but do this a couple of more times and you'll have destroyed a potentially valuable asset just because you want to feel smug. If you want to do A/B testing, do A/B testing. Don't pee in your own swimming pool.

I genuinely wasn't doing it to feel superior. The goal is to collect enough data to conclusively verify that the hard right values rhetoric and propaganda over facts and that they are more susceptible to propaganda than the left is. In the process I've also learned that the hard right is more likely to make something viral than the left is. Regardless, it is an ongoing experiment so I will update it accordingly and p…

I genuinely wasn't doing it to feel superior.

Yes you were. The whole tone of your post is "lol, look at those right-winger idiots!". Remember, you thought it'd be "hilarious".

For what it's worth, I've seen left-wingers also brainlessly forward untruths and non-quotes the same as the right. It's not a political spectrum issue, it's a general issue with people in an information-dense environment.