Re:Ask HN: Are there paid commenters on HN?
by DeathArrow on Saturday October 16, 2021 @03:09AM
(#28886130)
If your opinion is going against the mainstream and against the heard mentality you will be silenced without someone having to pay a dime for it.
You can care about it and avoid posting things that irks the herd or you can not care about it and voice it anyway.
You can either derive reward by being socially accepted or by promoting your own views and opinions.
Re:Ask HN: Are there paid commenters on HN?
by ampgt on Saturday October 16, 2021 @03:18AM
(#28886169)
One of the reasons I tend to lurk more than post. It’s disappointing to throw out an opinion and get attacked for it. I’m fine if you disagree (and I look forward to it) but it seems like some are conditioned to be offended by others opinions… or maybe paid? :)
Having your posts yelled at and downvoted can reduce your willingness to participate in discussion or debate. Especially when there's a stupid "karma" score that subconsciously gamifies our participation here.
I'd be willing to bet that having one's opinions silenced online trains one to stop talking about the same topics offline as well. Like a sort of conditioning.
And there are lots of powerful parties that want to silence certain opinions.
Why on HN? Because of the abundance of smart, wealthy, influential, and well-connected people here. Change these people, and your social engineering ripples throughout society.