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nickthegreek 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

If enough people agreed with you, simonw's top level comment would be grey. It isn't. Not every comment is for every person, that is fine and normal. He didnt hijack a popular thread in here to make his post. He doesnt have a tin can in your face shouting from a soapbox that makes it hard to ignore. Flag or ignore are reasonable options that can be used.

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Der_Einzige 5 hours ago | parent [-]

People aren't supposed to upvote or downvote posts for these kinds of reasons here. Most people are downvoting far too much on this website, and it leads to significant echo-chamber dynamics that are worse than even reddit. The pelican test continuing to be taken seriously is a great example of that kind of echo chamber.

"He doesn't have a tin can in your face shouting from a soapbox that makes it hard to ignore."

He metaphorically does because people upvote his pelicans to the top and the ensuing comment threads are massive/bloated. Huge amounts of the readership of this website are lurkers who don't even know how to hide these giant posts. Look at how bloated this very thread is right now!

Also, a lot of people unironically are whining about him because of sour grapes. Pay them what Simon is likely making, give them as much mindshare/attention as Simon gets, and they wouldn't be so mad.

Anti-incumbency bias and anti-elitist attitudes are good actually.

	▲	nickthegreek 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> People aren't supposed to upvote or downvote posts for these kinds of reasons here. Agreed, but scrolling past or hitting - were apparently off the table for the complainers. So flagging was yet another tool in their toolbelt and I bet a powerful one at that. If simonw's pelican posts routinely went dead from flagging, he would not make them. You know that, I know that. > The pelican test continuing to be taken seriously is a great example of that kind of echo chamber. You can try and support that argument if you like. But I would implore you to realize that it has been had many times recently and the other side does in fact find value and do not see it that way. > He metaphorically does because people upvote his pelicans to the top and the ensuing comment threads are massive/bloated. Users upvote the pelicans because they find it interesting. they arent paid trolls or simonw fanatics. > Huge amounts of the readership of this website are lurkers who don't even know how to hide these giant posts. They can learn... it's called hackernews. For those interested, that is what the [-] link is for above the comment. Use it and move on.

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simonw 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I did hit a nerve. I don't like being accused of posting comments here for "low effort personal brand promotion" or nefarious financial motives.

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hypfer 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Well, yeah. No one does.

But, also, as said, you're an industry (and foss!) veteran, so I find it impossible to believe that you haven't had your fair share of baseless bullshit being thrown at you, and with that, you gaining a persona that will not be hit by that, because it clearly knows that it is in fact bullshit.

Unless of course it doesn't really know that with certainty.

As said, I would _love_ to give you the benefit of the doubt, because you might just have a stressful day or whatever, but content marketing is literally your whole thing by now. It is impossible for me to do that with a clean conscience.

Your blog front page currently opens with

> Earlier this month I hosted a fireside chat session at the AI Engineer World’s Fair with Cat Wu and Thariq Shihipar from Anthropic’s Claude Code team.

That is not what "some rando foss maintainer we are morally obligated to be soft with" does.

But I repeat myself.

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simonw 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm a professional blogger now. I still also work on open source software. I'm even fine being called an "influencer" (shudder), but I take offense to accusations of unethical behavior.

I think very hard about the ethics of what I'm doing and how I can best use my "platform" (shudder again) in as constructive a way as possible.

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hypfer 5 hours ago | parent [-]

[flagged]

	▲	TulliusCicero 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> Come on man, can you please just stop, take the L and let the subthread die. I'd rather you do this than him. Chill out, please. The pelican pic is fine.

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underdeserver 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

What do you want from him, seriously? Anyone who follows the scene knows that blogging about AI (and participating in conferences etc.) is what Simon does nowadays.

There's nothing shady here. The disclosure is front and center on his About page on his website.

He's not spamming you. It's one short link, sometimes a link to a first-impressions post. It's interesting and useful for me and the other commenters who keep upvoting his comments. Why are you so antagonistic?

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noopprod 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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