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Comment by NeedMoreTea | Hacker News Reader

Same copy paste on every climate change post is starting to feel like tedious spam at this point.

I see from your history it's the only thing you have ever posted on HN.

Hey NeedMoreTea, you're right - so far I haven't posted so much else. Do you have any idea on how to raise awareness of community projects that you would feel are more respectful? 50+ people have joined the projects over the last week, attributing it to threads on HN, so it seems that for some users it is providing some value.

If you're only here because this place has high visibility, not because you're interested in the conversation, you're a spammer no matter how noble your goals are.

I'm (obviously) very involved in climate change and how tech (very represented in the HN community) can play a role in fixing it: many are asking themselves the question on how they can do something about it.

I want to help these people find a spot where they can find like-minded people interested on working on it - and I believe climate change posts on HN are a good match between people concerned about the climate, and who would be interested in joining tech communities working to fix it. I'm all ears to find other ways to give people avenues to work on their "climate" anxiety - let me know if you have better ideas.

If you're very much involved in climate change issues and want to make an effect on the tech crowd then you might as well partake yourself with meaningful comments in the relevant discussions here on Hacker News, offering your wealth of information and expertise to the community. That would further your cause while also giving back to people. Merely spamming is... just spamming.

I'm concerned about the starving people in sub Saharan Africa. It would still be inappropriate for me to constantly spam you about it, regardless of how hungry they are.

Yes. Absolutely. I am concerned about the security/surveillance state. I understand this and try to apologize when I start going on about it.

I love HN, but it's gotten so that if it's a weekend or U.S. holiday, it's climate stories. I'm happy to ignore them, but the site itself is beginning to look a bit preachy on this particular topic.

So, the person copy pasting shouldn’t do that, but....I would expect the volume of climate stories to get larger, not smaller.

The issue is growing in urgency and severity. By social convention people treat it like any other issue, but it drawfs anything else in terms of the scale of the problem.

So it’ll remain relevant to the forum, which tends to do a better joh weighting things based on importance. That said the discussions likely verge on repetitive.

Got the feedback - will change behavior and post less.

Noble as your motives are, you're still spamming and that's not the intention of this forum.

There are "Show HN:" posts...perhaps that's a better option for you.

Thanks for the feedback - I could try Show HN: in the future. Will reduce the posting frequency from now on.

I think generally joining the discussion is a good thing to do. Especially if you're passionate about these issues that probably means you have more to add than just copy-pasting the same links.

Actively join in the community here? Maybe a little judgement?

It's a topic I find important, so I do try and read those that come by. First time or two it's interesting, when I see 4 or 5 relevant stories break same day, like a couple of days ago, and it looks like I saw half those you found that day... For me at least, that seems like pushing it.

Thanks for the frank feedback and I will post less. I think also I can do a better job than "just" posting these links.

Spamming is often an effective tactic. That's why people continue to do it. Arguing that it's OK because it has the effect you seek is hollow at best.

Also, every time I feel compelled to point out that these hobby projects are nice, but what we really need is large scale government action, and that will only come through serious political pressure from voters.

Complaining about posts that are trying to raise awareness of and find solutions to climate meltdown feels a bit like criticising a fire alarm for disturbing your sleep.

Calling this "spam" implies the poster hopes to profit from his actions. In this case, the poster literally wants to save the entire planet.

Well I'm no groth hax0r like OP, but it shouldn't be too difficult for them to sit down and write an actual comment. Like you just did, and like I'm doing right now. Who cares if a lazy spammer has a heart of gold?

It’s spam.

https://www.rhyolite.com/anti-spam/that-which-we-dont.html#n...

Yes and https://www.rhyolite.com/anti-spam/that-which-we-dont.html#p... as well.

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