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A comment on So, I went down the rabbit hole of buying GitHub Stars, so you won't have to. Parent comment

Re:So, I went down the rabbit hole of buying GitHub Stars, s... by TheCapn on Thursday June 01, 2023 @11:48AM (#36152837)
I have a friend who basically kickstarted his entire career by boosting posts on Reddit with bots he ran. I won't knock his talent, he's a brilliant engineer, but I 100% believe he's gotten where his is in life because he knows how to play the game properly. Heck, getting his indie business off the ground is only one of several examples he's admitted to me of using Tor networks and bots to boost his ranking in competitions or sites like reddit/twitter/etc.
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Re:So, I went down the rabbit hole of buying GitHub Stars, s... by TeMPOraL on Thursday June 01, 2023 @12:01PM (#36153071)
Funny you should mention Reddit, because IIRC Reddit itself started with first-party bots pretending to be users, manufacturing "social proof" to cheat around initial user acquisition hurdles.
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Re:So, I went down the rabbit hole of buying GitHub Stars, s... by evandale on Thursday June 01, 2023 @12:09PM (#36153215)
You recalled correctly! Huffman isn't shy about it.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/z4444w/how-reddit-got-huge-t...

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Re:So, I went down the rabbit hole of buying GitHub Stars, s... by arp242 on Thursday June 01, 2023 @08:55PM (#36159486)
This is a very old trick; the Nazi party started their membership numbers at 500 to make it appear they had more members. A certain failed Austrian painter had membership number 555.
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Re:So, I went down the rabbit hole of buying GitHub Stars, s... by throw_m239339 on Thursday June 01, 2023 @01:36PM (#36154564)
> Funny you should mention Reddit, because IIRC Reddit itself started with first-party bots pretending to be users, manufacturing "social proof" to cheat around initial user acquisition hurdles.

"started"?

They are still doing that today to inflate their user count...

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Re:So, I went down the rabbit hole of buying GitHub Stars, s... by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Friday June 02, 2023 @07:45AM (#36163868)
Maybe any game where the "proper" way to play involves dishonesty and sociopathic behavior isn't one we should be structuring society around, and therefore we really shouldn't be trying to play it in the first place.
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Re:So, I went down the rabbit hole of buying GitHub Stars, s... by MichaelZuo on Saturday June 03, 2023 @02:01PM (#36178926)
How would you check and enforce it to make sure?

Obviously some fraction of the population will lie about being honest and upright.

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Re:So, I went down the rabbit hole of buying GitHub Stars, s... by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Monday June 05, 2023 @07:19AM (#36194838)
We don't have to do that, just make sure that dishonest behavior is not the dominant strategy. In our society, we could start by ceasing to promote and reward such behavior constantly.
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Re:So, I went down the rabbit hole of buying GitHub Stars, s... by MichaelZuo on Monday June 05, 2023 @11:40AM (#36197891)
> We don't have to do that,...

Why not?

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