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One Guy Ruined Hacktoberfest 2020

joel.net

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Re: One Guy Ruined Hacktoberfest 2020

#481

Post by goodrubyist »

pritambarhate wrote: post #225

As an Indian, I think here some points I think western world needs to know about India. * "Gaming the system" to get your desired outcome is widely accepted in Indian society. Especially if it doesn't involve breaking any laws (not ethics). Even in many cases Gaming the system by breaking the law is considered OK as long as one doesn't get caught doing it. (In fact this might be the only way to come up in politics in…

I can attest to this. In fact, in India, it's considered very stupid and laughable by a very large number of people to buy digital books and music, because they are available for "free" on pirate websites. Read that again: I'm not just saying that people pirate stuff, instead, I'm saying they consider it unimaginable and stupid to spend money because it's available for "free." Ethics never enter the picture, I promise you.

Also, it's considered acceptable and clever to order clothes, use them at an event, and return as "defective." Quaint concepts like morality are not even considered relevant.

Re: One Guy Ruined Hacktoberfest 2020

#482

Post by tn5421 »

goodrubyist wrote: post #481
pritambarhate wrote: post #225

As an Indian, I think here some points I think western world needs to know about India. * "Gaming the system" to get your desired outcome is widely accepted in Indian society. Especially if it doesn't involve breaking any laws (not ethics). Even in many cases Gaming the system by breaking the law is considered OK as long as one doesn't get caught doing it. (In fact this might be the only way to come up in politics in…

I can attest to this. In fact, in India, it's considered very stupid and laughable by a very large number of people to buy digital books and music, because they are available for "free" on pirate websites. Read that again: I'm not just saying that people pirate stuff, instead, I'm saying they consider it unimaginable and stupid to spend money because it's available for "free." Ethics never enter the picture, I promis…

On the other hand, there is a reason that India is banned wholesale from more reputable communities.

Re: One Guy Ruined Hacktoberfest 2020

#483

Post by tn5421 »

cyphar wrote: post #432
r-w wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they don't want GitHub PRs, they can just disable them.

GitHub doesn't allow you to disable pull requests, despite many project (including notable ones like Linux) asking them to add this feature.

They offer 3 options for doing so, in fact, in direct response to this controversy.

I can limit interactions to non-new users.

I can limit interactions to users that have contributed before.

I can limit interactions to users that I have manually whitelisted in my repo.

Unfortunately, only one of these can be active at a time, but the options do exist now.

Go to your repo -> Settings -> Moderation Settings -> Interaction Limits

Re: One Guy Ruined Hacktoberfest 2020

#484

Post by yahnu »

goodrubyist wrote: post #481
pritambarhate wrote: post #225

As an Indian, I think here some points I think western world needs to know about India. * "Gaming the system" to get your desired outcome is widely accepted in Indian society. Especially if it doesn't involve breaking any laws (not ethics). Even in many cases Gaming the system by breaking the law is considered OK as long as one doesn't get caught doing it. (In fact this might be the only way to come up in politics in…

I can attest to this. In fact, in India, it's considered very stupid and laughable by a very large number of people to buy digital books and music, because they are available for "free" on pirate websites. Read that again: I'm not just saying that people pirate stuff, instead, I'm saying they consider it unimaginable and stupid to spend money because it's available for "free." Ethics never enter the picture, I promis…

Usually it will have to do with purchasing power parity.

The low pricing in one country doesn't translate to low pricing in another country, especially with digital goods.

Things are changing though now. Many streaming services are doing well in India as prices are appropriate and people are educated on the value of the goods.

It is also related to strong laws/enforcing of laws as well, which is also improving in my opinion.

All of which are not necessarily unique to India.

Re: One Guy Ruined Hacktoberfest 2020

#485

Post by lozenge »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #413
_dbdw wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Gaming the system" is also a cultural thing in Greece. In fact, it's so expected that you are perceived to be either out of the loop or a fool for not going the extra mile. I broke friendships with people who claimed that "it's all subjective at the end of the day" whenever I was raising ethical/moral concerns. Imagine not being able to provide a reasonable argument to justify your actions, beyond of "because I'm al…

I'm Greek too (γειάα) but live in the UK. It's a cultural thing here, too. Just imagine everyone around you constantly trying to pinch every last penny off your purse, in any way they can think of. Or, look at the way the Brexit campaign convinced half of the UK citizens to vote for Brexit with unsubstantiated claims like "350 million to the NHS" or "Millions of migrants from Turkey coming over" etc. In general, I th…

I don't see it in the UK actually, and those are not good examples at all. When I go to visit the US, I get nickel-and-dimed a lot more. Compared to the US, there isn't much MLM or get-rich-quick here for example.

Re: One Guy Ruined Hacktoberfest 2020

#486

Post by goodrubyist »

yahnu wrote: post #484
goodrubyist wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can attest to this. In fact, in India, it's considered very stupid and laughable by a very large number of people to buy digital books and music, because they are available for "free" on pirate websites. Read that again: I'm not just saying that people pirate stuff, instead, I'm saying they consider it unimaginable and stupid to spend money because it's available for "free." Ethics never enter the picture, I promis…

Usually it will have to do with purchasing power parity. The low pricing in one country doesn't translate to low pricing in another country, especially with digital goods. Things are changing though now. Many streaming services are doing well in India as prices are appropriate and people are educated on the value of the goods. It is also related to strong laws/enforcing of laws as well, which is also improving in my…

Okay, so let's say some people can't afford to buy digital goods. How does that, by itself, explain a general belief that the few who do that are stupid because they "don't realize" that they are available for "free"?

Now, you or I might say that they aren't really available for free (they're stolen/pirated), but any thoughts of that kind just don't appear in many people (amoral, not immoral).

Re: One Guy Ruined Hacktoberfest 2020

#487

Post by qaisjp »

saagarjha wrote: post #103
tzs wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was it much of a problem before this year? Looking back at all prior HN stories with "hacktoberfest" in the title or with "hacktoberfest" and "spam" in the comments, I can't find any that talk about it being a big problem before this year. I found one maintainer who said they got a non-negligible number of garbage pull requests for it, but they still said Hacktoberfest was cool. There was also one post about a filter…

Same. I don’t think I got a single spammy PR I could attribute to Hacktoberfest before this year, I had thought it must be people staying inside for COVID or something. But I guess I know the actual cause now.

Agreed. We got two this year. Never received a spam PR before.

Re: One Guy Ruined Hacktoberfest 2020

#488

Post by mst »

higerordermap wrote: post #430
mst wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading a lot of these comments ... the number of indians making a point of calling out this bullshit on the part of their countrymen is honestly kind of awesome and I'm kinda proud of y'all. Too many countries' populations would be more likely to be reflexively defensive instead. Though I'm in england and grew up considering british indians' self deprecatory sense of humour something to aspire to, so ... I'm not goi…

Yeah pointing out what's wrong with a society which is focused on wrong metrics and gaming the system is wrong. And I have also pointed out it makes life harder for genuinely talented people. You and your godamn pride.

... I said I was proud of the pointing out what was wrong.

I think you may have entirely misunderstood my comment.

Re: One Guy Ruined Hacktoberfest 2020

#489

Post by 908B64B197 »

pritambarhate wrote: post #225

As an Indian, I think here some points I think western world needs to know about India. * "Gaming the system" to get your desired outcome is widely accepted in Indian society. Especially if it doesn't involve breaking any laws (not ethics). Even in many cases Gaming the system by breaking the law is considered OK as long as one doesn't get caught doing it. (In fact this might be the only way to come up in politics in…

Before seeing the video I posted my theory here [0] on where the spam was originating from and it seems this pretty much completes the explanation I gave that it's a classic case of academic spam [1].

That type of spam, especially on GitHub (so by folks trying to get into IT) really only reinforces the stereotype that 95% of Indian IT students can't code [3] [4].

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24645000

[1] https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41687/what-is-b...

[3] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/95-engineers-...

[4] https://restofworld.org/2020/india-engineering-degree/

Re: One Guy Ruined Hacktoberfest 2020

#490

Post by MertsA »

belval wrote: post #353
unmole wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overfitting? Sure. But gaming the system? I disagree. Hell, I've heard of companies giving candidates the book to help them prepare for the interview. It's not ideal but this is what the system expects.

FAANG will usually send you a few slides on what algorithms and data structures to prepare.

I just started interviewing with FB and got prep slides, two courses on educative.io, a 27 page document on the origins and purpose of the role, two 45 minute intro calls, and two 45 minute prep calls so far, and a recommendation to study up on a bunch of problems on leetcode in addition. I don't know how the rest of FAANG compares but Facebook drops a mountain of prep material for candidates.
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