[deleted]
RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?
21–30 of 99 posts
Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?
#22"Disruption" comes to the world of junior academia. It was inevitable. Nothing's sacred.
[dead]
Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?
#23Astroturfing on reddit has been a thing for over a decade and has really accelerated over the last few years. There's several companies where literally that is their business model to promote your product or service on reddit. I saw one for sale on acquire.com a while back for 7 figures
Sockpuppet accounts are literally the foundation of Reddit [1] [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/reddi...
Not a "gotcha"
There's obviously a massive difference between using sockpuppet accounts to:
* Influence perception on a social media platform as a 3rd party
vs.
* Put content on a social media platform that users are looking for so they return to the platform
It doesn't matter who shares a story with you on social media if the goal is to entertain, but it does matter if the goal is to get you to do something [spend money on their courses]
Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?
#24Welcome to Reddit. That, and the code camp thing. Reddit is a terrible anyway.
Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?
#25What is this cheatsheets and predicted exam leaks stuff? I don't mean to sound naive but is cheating a significant part of the test prep space?
A cheat sheet could be a piece of paper you're allowed to bring to an exam. To make a proper cheat sheet you have to understand the material you're working with anyway so it usually doesn't help you.
Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?
#26Pickle, another yc backed startup, is also acting really fishy. They claimed they developed a standalone AR device, took money from customers, and now they're saying it requires tethering to your phone. https://x.com/cixliv/status/2008129653467492631
> and now they're saying it requires tethering to your phone
Where are they saying that?
Also what is the second "conclusion" screenshot from? (Who is the "Matthew" and what analysis, mentioned in that screenshot?)
Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m shocked when I come across people who think that sockpuppeting doesn’t happen on social media including HN. I wish there were laws that required large social media sites to publish data to their end users that indicate the severity of the problem.
HN is so prime to sockpuppet on because of its fairly low comment rate but high concentration of users who can make technology decisions at companies.
Sure, but I suspect also harder because it's full of contrarians that will point out at least five better ways of solving the problem and people that upon being greeted with anything that looks like disguised marketing copy will spontaneously combust. And if you do manage to sneak a URL into a discussion without anyone thinking it's marketing, the next four comments will be about whether the design of the landing page is unsuited for people with 2400 pixel wide monitors or people with noscript enabled
(Also it's the kind of website where you absolutely can get good responses from "Show HN: A thing you might want to use and here's how much profit I'm making from it already" until a bunch of green usernames say nice things about it)
Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?
#28> Astroturfing: Coordinated campaigns... [to post,] upvote, leave supportive comments, and ask follow-up questions—creating the illusion of organic excitement... Critical comments receive coordinated mass downvotes.
I thought that was the dictionary definition of social media? If it isn't yet, it should be, Reddit is just the tip of the iceberg.
Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?
#29Astroturfing on reddit has been a thing for over a decade and has really accelerated over the last few years. There's several companies where literally that is their business model to promote your product or service on reddit. I saw one for sale on acquire.com a while back for 7 figures
It's so painfully obvious too. On my local subreddit: "what's the best ice cream shop in $CITY?" Check their post history, one "lol" on a cat pic on /r/aww 8 months ago.
4 lines of code could catch this.
Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m shocked when I come across people who think that sockpuppeting doesn’t happen on social media including HN. I wish there were laws that required large social media sites to publish data to their end users that indicate the severity of the problem.
HN is so prime to sockpuppet on because of its fairly low comment rate but high concentration of users who can make technology decisions at companies.
[deleted]