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Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

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Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#221

Post by VonLipwig »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #203
VonLipwig wrote: post #185

The answer is no, people who say yes are wrong. You black out your website to raise awareness to the cause. I think it is a fair bet that an extremely high number of HN users know a lot about SOPA / PIPA. So there is no point doing this to educate regulars. Perhaps news will spread. Sure, it will spread in the tech community. In the tech community knowledge of SOPA / PIPA is well known. Shock waves from HN being blac…

Announcing a hacker news blackout could sway the big guys to do the same.

HN has nothing to lose by blacking out.

Google have advertisers and business to worry about. They also have the G+ vs Facebook battle to be concerned about.

If Google blackout and no one else does then what will people do during the hours Google is down? They would go else where... shareholders and investors would be very unhappy. Especially if you consider these people who pop to Bing may decide they like Bing better.

If Facebook / Google / Yahoo / Bing all went offline from 6-9pm in a rolling blackout across the states on one night. (i.e. blackout by IP based on states timezone.) It would have a massive effect.

Hell, they don't even need to completely blackout. Just randomly black out elements of the page.

American's are still afraid of communism right? Lets add a bar at the top of the sites.

"SOPA would mean that we would have to black out portions of the Internet. Do you know who else does this? CHINA. Are you a communist? Campaign against SOPA here."

It's a bit direct but I thought this was how US politics worked?

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#222

Post by Shivetya »

No.

Sorry, but while I like this site your not going to do anything but annoy those of us who agree with the stance.

Simply put, the public in general does not know about HN and the public does not care. This site has little to no impact in that arena.

Now if you want to annoy those of us who agree with the idea of sites noticeable to the public going dark then you will have accomplished that.

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#223

Post by Angostura »

gaius wrote: post #199
swombat wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world doesn't give a toss or have an iota of awareness about HN. Blacking out HN would be like switching off your computer in the privacy of your own home. Nobody knows or cares. All that would achieve is to remove an important vector for communication and information spread in the tech community.

I'm English and would be annoyed if a site I used vanished for a reason that is nothing to do with me. You don't like what your govt is doing, vote it out.

I'm English, this has everything to do with us. Clearly HN should go dark, for people from non-U.S IPs it should redirect to a site explaing the international implications.

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#224

Post by Angostura »

johnthedebs wrote: post #173
kevinalexbrown wrote: post #62

I wanted to vote no, because it seems so Pyrrhic, maybe a little gimmicky: "See, we shut down a site you don't use!" But if you're asking people to make a sacrifice you're not willing to make yourself, you're a bad leader, period. I'm not saying HN is the bastion of the tech world. But if we're upvoting the Reddit shutdown (at least I did), and we can't turn around and do it ourselves, well, we're not made of very to…

I see your point, but disagree. I think it makes a lot more sense for HN to do whatever HN believes is the most effective thing, rather than do what reddit did. I see it as fake work. We would being doing something ineffective to prove a point and distracting from something potentially more useful (which may or may not also prove that point).

And you believe the most effective thing it can do is...?

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#225

Post by mcherm »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #213
eob wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making a public stand isn't just about using shock-and-awe to create an educational moment. It's also about making headlines and showing solidarity. Despite the fact that the majority of HN readers already know about SOPA, I think it's an excellent idea for these other reasons. It might also be an opportunity to get some of us off our butts and use the time we spend reading HN each day to call our representatives in…

> Making a public stand isn't [...] [is] also about making headlines and showing solidarity. So you think that HN being off for a few hours will make headlines in the worlds newspapers and on the main TV channels? Maybe as an "some tech websites were also offline [and nothing important was lost]" or maybe even (given the quality of some press) "other illegal hacking sites were down in protest against the bill". I don…

No, I believe it will alter how the news media writes their story about the Reddit blackout. "Tech sites do blackout" vs "Wacky site shuts itself off for a day".

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#226

Post by tomelders »

I voted yes, here's why....

There is the "awareness argument" to be made, there'salso a protest element. Going dark is a protest against SOPA, and I fully support that protest.

But most of all I voted yes because....

What if FB or Google went dark, but all the Tech Sites stayed up? What would that look like? It'd look like we're a bunch of selfish cunts, that's what.

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#227

Post by evolve2k »

By blackout I suggest that the site changes it's look (goes Black for the day) and only shows SOPA/PIPA related articles and resources.

Maybe for the day, the submit form asks something similar to: 'Is this article SOPA/PIPA related, if not it will show tomorrow'.

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#228

Post by gitarr »

nikcub wrote: post #211
VonLipwig wrote: post #185

The answer is no, people who say yes are wrong. You black out your website to raise awareness to the cause. I think it is a fair bet that an extremely high number of HN users know a lot about SOPA / PIPA. So there is no point doing this to educate regulars. Perhaps news will spread. Sure, it will spread in the tech community. In the tech community knowledge of SOPA / PIPA is well known. Shock waves from HN being blac…

ahh it's the "a single vote doesn't really count" argument

The best way to keep everyone at home and thinking there is nothing I can do to change anything.

I wouldn't be surprised if governments around the world are using sock-puppet accounts on a variety of sites to spread exactly this sentiment and to keep the masses quiet. (For the ones about to call me crazy, read this before you do: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-oper...)

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#229

Post by atomicdog »

VonLipwig wrote: post #185

The answer is no, people who say yes are wrong. You black out your website to raise awareness to the cause. I think it is a fair bet that an extremely high number of HN users know a lot about SOPA / PIPA. So there is no point doing this to educate regulars. Perhaps news will spread. Sure, it will spread in the tech community. In the tech community knowledge of SOPA / PIPA is well known. Shock waves from HN being blac…

>Shock waves from HN being blacked out won't travel to the general public or politicians.

I disagree. If certain big sites (google, facebook) black out then it WILL be covered by the mainstream media. As a result they're bound to publish "lists" of all other sites that have followed suit.

Every single site on these lists, whether Joe Public knows them or not, strengthens our cause.

Re: Poll: Do you think HN should go dark in protest of SOPA?

#230

Post by atomicdog »

mcherm wrote: post #225
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Making a public stand isn't [...] [is] also about making headlines and showing solidarity. So you think that HN being off for a few hours will make headlines in the worlds newspapers and on the main TV channels? Maybe as an "some tech websites were also offline [and nothing important was lost]" or maybe even (given the quality of some press) "other illegal hacking sites were down in protest against the bill". I don…

No, I believe it will alter how the news media writes their story about the Reddit blackout. "Tech sites do blackout" vs "Wacky site shuts itself off for a day".

This is a very good point.

Reddit, HackerNews & SlashDot down = Tech sites blackout

Reddit down = Remember that website that we reported was full of pedophiles last month? ...

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