Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is? • Hacker News Board

Re: Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?

#71

Post by jeff6845 » Mon, Oct 02, 2017, 5:52 PM UTC

I had an interview at Facebook where the hiring manager completely forgot about it. Ackward, because he was the one I was suppose to meet in the lobby. One of the interviewers came late and took me upstairs, and between the him and the other three, I heard three different stories about what happened to the hiring manager.

However, in the interviews, I came under the impression that Facebook knows very well what they do, where they are going, and what their 7-year plan is.

It's just that corporations don't market that as their image, but prefer to cultivate an image they deem more likeable to attract customers. I'll bet that Mark knows this, and what his company is doing quit well even though at some things, they seem in disarray.

Re: Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?

#72

Post by davesque » Mon, Oct 02, 2017, 6:20 PM UTC

owebmaster wrote: post #41

davesque wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can imagine a lot of ways this could be done ethically. Maybe they tried to keep the bot activity to a minimum. Maybe they kept a lookout for non-German (and especially Russian) accounts trying to buy political ads. Either way, I think it ought to be pretty clear that the free market, hands off approach doesn't work.

> Maybe they kept a lookout for non-German (and especially Russian) accounts trying to buy political ads This is HEAVY intervention. Specially if it is more specifically to "russian".

I don't think we can have much of a conversation here. I simply believe that foreign nationals shouldn't take out ads to influence the elections of countries in which they're not a citizen. If we can't agree on this, then we'll just have to agree to disagree. And, just in case anyone tries to counter with a "pot calling the kettle" argument, I don't care if the US government has ever tried to influence the elections of other countries. I don't think that's ethical either.

So, just to restate my position, if what Facebook meant by upholding the integrity of elections amounted to preventing foreign nationals (non-Germans) from buying political ads on their platform, I'm all for it.

Re: Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?

#73

Post by catskul2 » Mon, Oct 02, 2017, 6:31 PM UTC

pscsbs wrote: post #53

T-hawk wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The POTUS has 300 million users. Facebook has 2 billion.

The POTUS has nukes and one of the most highly trained and best-equipped militaries in the world. Facebook can be shutdown by POTUS in an instant. Power is not measured by “users.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvkuePL7oDY

Re: Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?

#74

Post by Stratoscope » Mon, Oct 02, 2017, 6:33 PM UTC

__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #68

mortenjorck wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook has grown so big, and become so totalizing, that we can’t really grasp it all at once. Like a four-dimensional object, we catch slices of it when it passes through the three-dimensional world we recognize. This is an incredible bit of prose. It reads like a description of some kind of future mega-corporation from a Gibson novel, and it's mind-bending to contemplate that we really do live in that universe.

He elaborates a bit later on the properties of this object. What a sentence: But what had been presented as a democratic town hall was revealed to be a densely interwoven collection of parallel media ecosystems and political infrastructures outside the control of mainstream media outlets and major political parties and moving like a wrecking ball through both.

Oh my, do I have to do yet another "mobile friendly" reply? Maybe I should write a Mobile Quote Bot. :-)

> But what had been presented as a democratic town hall was revealed to be a densely interwoven collection of parallel media ecosystems and political infrastructures outside the control of mainstream media outlets and major political parties and moving like a wrecking ball through both.

Tip to HN commenters: don't indent block quotes and break them up into lines. That is for code formatting, and it makes the quote hard to read on a mobile device.

Instead, put the quote all on one line in this format without indenting it:

  > *Quote here.*

Or the quote can be on multiple lines (newlines and spaces are interchangeable), as long as the lines are not indented. Just add the > and * at the beginning, and another * at the end. This will put the quote in a reasonable format that works both on desktop and mobile browsers.

If the quote consists of multiple paragraphs, I like to follow the above formatting for each paragraph separately. Put a blank line between each paragraph so they don't run together.

And then be sure to check the format after commenting. It should look like the quote near the beginning of this comment. If it doesn't look right, edit to fix it. And no, you do not need to add an "Edit: fixed formatting" note. That would be silly, just fix the thing.

HN's comment formatting options are rather meager, so this is about the best we can do.

Thanks!

Re: Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?

#75

Post by owebmaster » Mon, Oct 02, 2017, 8:10 PM UTC

davesque wrote: post #72

owebmaster wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe they kept a lookout for non-German (and especially Russian) accounts trying to buy political ads This is HEAVY intervention. Specially if it is more specifically to "russian".

I don't think we can have much of a conversation here. I simply believe that foreign nationals shouldn't take out ads to influence the elections of countries in which they're not a citizen. If we can't agree on this, then we'll just have to agree to disagree. And, just in case anyone tries to counter with a "pot calling the kettle" argument, I don't care if the US government has ever tried to influence the elections…

> I simply believe that foreign nationals shouldn't take out ads to influence the elections of countries in which they're not a citizen. If we can't agree on this, then we'll just have to agree to disagree

I totally agree with it! Now I ask you, do you agree? Because US institutions bought a lot of political ads in the past years when the Brazilian government was overthrow. Now guess which side did these institutions support? :)

Re: Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?

#76

Post by dogruck » Mon, Oct 02, 2017, 8:24 PM UTC

qq66 wrote: post #70

pscsbs wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The POTUS has nukes and one of the most highly trained and best-equipped militaries in the world. Facebook can be shutdown by POTUS in an instant. Power is not measured by “users.”

The President of the US indisputably has more destructive power than the CEO of Facebook, but the ability to kill people is not the only measure of power. And, how would the President shut down Facebook in an instant? The US President's powers are highly constrained, as many of them have complained about.

I'd like a better understanding of your viewpoint.

What actions do you think Zuck could take which would demonstrate that he has more power than Trump?

And, why do you raise the hypothetical of Trump shutting down Facebook? In particular, it's my understanding that many of Trump's foes are blaming FB for his win.

Re: Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?

#77

Post by dogruck » Mon, Oct 02, 2017, 8:28 PM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #69

dogruck wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US just had a national election where every mainstream media outlet fervently supported the losing candidate. In any case, even if the MSM effectively shapes public opinion, the POTUS commands the armed forces.

I'm not sure that's relevant here. The only way that flies is if the armed forces are deployed against the companies in question, something that is expressly forbidden in federal law. (And if that ever becomes an issue, the USA as we know it has already ceased to exist)

If I understand your point, you are conceptualizing the discussion as "how could Trump attack FB" vs "how could Zuck attack the US"?

Is that fair? Or do I not understand your point?

Re: Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?

#78

Post by orevidence » Mon, Oct 02, 2017, 9:16 PM UTC

Crespyl wrote: post #64

walru wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So is $100,000 worth of ads enough to sway an election? Because I have stats claiming nobody clicks on ads.

The things election ads are selling don't need clicks to recoup the investment.

or evidence showing what their impact is, apparently. let’s just intuit it!

Re: Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?

#79

Post by orevidence » Mon, Oct 02, 2017, 9:19 PM UTC

dogruck wrote: post #76

qq66 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The President of the US indisputably has more destructive power than the CEO of Facebook, but the ability to kill people is not the only measure of power. And, how would the President shut down Facebook in an instant? The US President's powers are highly constrained, as many of them have complained about.

I'd like a better understanding of your viewpoint. What actions do you think Zuck could take which would demonstrate that he has more power than Trump? And, why do you raise the hypothetical of Trump shutting down Facebook? In particular, it's my understanding that many of Trump's foes are blaming FB for his win.

many people are blaming many silly things for Trump’s win, especially as a distraction from their own glaring flaws

Re: Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?

#80

Post by dredmorbius » Mon, Oct 02, 2017, 11:37 PM UTC

Stratoscope wrote: post #74

__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He elaborates a bit later on the properties of this object. What a sentence: But what had been presented as a democratic town hall was revealed to be a densely interwoven collection of parallel media ecosystems and political infrastructures outside the control of mainstream media outlets and major political parties and moving like a wrecking ball through both.

Oh my, do I have to do yet another "mobile friendly" reply? Maybe I should write a Mobile Quote Bot. :-) > But what had been presented as a democratic town hall was revealed to be a densely interwoven collection of parallel media ecosystems and political infrastructures outside the control of mainstream media outlets and major political parties and moving like a wrecking ball through both. Tip to HN commenters: don't…

I've just requested that HN formalise this as a specific guideline.

I'd rather see either the CSS fixed (to pre-wrap or whatever the directive is), or actually have real motherlovin' blockquote support. But I'm not holding my breath.

(Lists would be another nice add. Markdown...)