Ask HN: Does anyone else lie on the internet?
by Mandatum on Hacker News.
Over the years I’ve found writing on HackerNews, Reddit and other online sites has given me an outlet to get creative and engage with folks in a way that will shift discourse towards something I’m more interested in. I regularly lie and pretend I know about topics and areas I have zero experience in. I began noticing I received more upvotes and engagement when I pandered to views or opinions that are either the direct opposite of what the original content suggests (through cherry-picked exceptions), or I’ll find a tangentially related view that’s either current and popular, or supports a topic or viewpoint I’d like to know more about – often pandered with some popular topic. Often this results in a thread about stuff that I actually want to read about, or someone actually knowledgeable on the subject will correct me – and call me out, but will receive far less approval (and often be flamed for criticizing me). On the plus side, I get to learn from someone really knowledgeable about how something works! (EDIT: Later I’ll often go back and reply to the person saying they are correct, I was wrong – and thank them for their reply.) Here’s one of the worst examples (which I regret) because it perpetuates a view about a place I’ve never been, I’ve never stepped foot in the continent of Africa – it’s one of the few times I wish I could go back and “correct the record”: https://ift.tt/uEU7Ocy I know nothing about IP law – >200+ upvotes: https://ift.tt/xNVkFtY I know nothing about, and have never been through Australia’s ACCC courts – almost 200 upvotes: https://ift.tt/1RocFvn I’ve never hosted any copyrighted media, ever: https://ift.tt/fczqH2P I know nothing about tax havens, I’ve never even submitted my own taxes: https://ift.tt/uTvpNQg Does anyone else do this?