(And no, self upvoting/ringvoting isn’t ok on HN and probably hasn’t been on Reddit for 17.5 of the past 18 years either. We’re talking about bootstrapping a totally new site in 2005, nothing more.)
Artifical users on dating apps are OK?
>The site is literally called Hacker News and it was built from the start to be a community of current/potential startup founders.
Im aware, so thats why probably ppl here are ok with those manipulative practices used to bootstrap.
Reddit’s practice was a simulation of activity to see what kind of activity was engaging. Nobody was defrauded or harmed and no legal or moral rules were breached.
This comment commits the beg-the-question fallacy of assuming the conclusion (fraud/moral breach) in its argumentation.
I understand that people have a need to believe that behind every fortune lies a great crime [1], but this is not the smoking gun people are looking for.
[1] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/09/fortune-crime/?amp=...