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RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?

#31

Post by SamBam »

gosub100 wrote: post #29
weird-eye-issue wrote: post #8

Astroturfing 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.

And yet I suspect it's super effective, because of the powerful illusion of it being real people.

There's the classic search "hack" of adding site:reddit.com to any product recommendation search, to find "real" recommendations.

Most of the time this is going to find 5-10 posts, each with only a dozen comments and a dozen up-votes. And yet it feels do much more real than whatever at the top of Google that many people will trust these reviews.

Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?

#32

Post by throw-12-16 »

Teever wrote: post #12
weird-eye-issue wrote: post #8

Astroturfing 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

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.

I got downvoted like mad for suggesting that HN is a marketing outlet for YC.

The people who frequent this forum think they are immune to astroturfing because they all work in ad tech.

Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?

#33

Post by throw-12-16 »

lispisok wrote: post #15
Teever wrote: post #12

Earlier 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.

Its a goldmine for social engineering, has come in handy personally a few times.

Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?

#34

Post by tclancy »

SamBam wrote: post #31
gosub100 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And yet I suspect it's super effective, because of the powerful illusion of it being real people. There's the classic search "hack" of adding site:reddit.com to any product recommendation search, to find "real" recommendations. Most of the time this is going to find 5-10 posts, each with only a dozen comments and a dozen up-votes. And yet it feels do much more real than whatever at the top of Google that many people…

And the new feature to hide your post and comment history makes it impossible to even guess at whether someone is a "real" person or not.

Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?

#35

Post by baxtr »

weird-eye-issue wrote: post #8

Astroturfing 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

For those like me who didn’t know:

Astroturfing is the practice of creating a fake "grassroots" movement to make it look like a cause, product, or candidate has widespread public support when they actually do not.

Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?

#36

Post by echelon »

baxtr wrote: post #35
weird-eye-issue wrote: post #8

Astroturfing 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

For those like me who didn’t know: Astroturfing is the practice of creating a fake "grassroots" movement to make it look like a cause, product, or candidate has widespread public support when they actually do not.

You should see Higgsfield right now.

They're buying stolen Reddit accounts and spamming over 500 videos a day to various subreddits.

They're also advertising fake "unlimited" plans. Their reseller pricing (they're a reseller) is 1/10th the upstream API pricing, so they're metering and throttling and banning users that cost them money.

They're getting thousands of people to subscribe to $1800 "18 month" plans.

Their unofficial subreddit is full of complaints. Probably a dozen complaint threads a day now.

Highly unethical company.

Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?

#37

Post by sroussey »

didntknowyou wrote: post #7

no surprise considering YC's fake it till you make it and growth hacking culture

Like the founders telling employees to lie about compliance cuz everyone does it.

There is a line between fake it till you make it and fraud.

Re: RevisionDojo, a YC startup, is running astroturfing campaigns targeting kids?

#40

Post by colinbartlett »

throw-12-16 wrote: post #19
ipsum2 wrote: post #4

Pickle, 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

Don't forget about Honey! YC is full of scams.

They do back a lot of companies. Is there any evidence that they are pushing unethical or illegal business practices on their portfolio companies at a rate higher than non-YC start ups?
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