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Comment by quantdev | Hacker News Reader

Hacker News has become tribal and politicized, much like many other parts of the internet.

There are multiple tribes represented in HN. I know, having been on here for years. I've met face to face with other HNers who might today disguise themselves and punch me in the street. I also continue to have productive and (at times) civil discussions with them, even in today's crazy climate.

Very true. And both Apple- and Google-related discussions brings out both sides in force. In this case we have a story that involves both, so I am not at all surpised to see it get contentious.

Personally, I've observed (via the voting mechanism and commentary) several different cohorts of people visit HN throughout the day. You get a real sense that opinions are regional and tribal. Europeans in the early morning, then east coast and flyover states, and then brace for impact when SV (in particular Googlers and/or pro-Googlers) pile on. It's fascinating.

I think the trends you are seeing, are most likely due to bias and not objective analysis. Try as we might, humans are subjective beings and truth is difficult for us discern, especially with so many variables.

Well, yes, of course I have not done a rigorous scientific analysis. But I can tell you from repeated experiences that if I say anything a bit critical of Europe or Europeans then I will get downvoted heavily in the wee hours of the day, and almost always will make that up and then some about midday (Pacific time). On the other hand, if I say something critical of Google then in the wee hours it'll usually get a bunch of upvotes, and then lose them all about midday.

No science here, absolutely, but I have had great success so far predicting in advance what the voting pattern is going to be on a comment I make. I treat it a bit like a sport.

There's a lot of potential value in influencing public opinion.

Tribal Australian here. No, its not politics. This research is a very rare occasion that Google did something good. All other actions are evilcorp, hence the emotions. AMP, analytics in every page on internet, Chrome autologins, blocking 3rd party email servers, the list is big.

I installed innocent piece of Google SW on my Mac, Android File Transfer [0]. Immediately it tried to install several launch agents, driving BlockBlock [1] crazy. Uninstalled right away without opening the app.

People tend to subconsciously forget that Google is an Ad company by 85% of revenue.

[0] https://www.android.com/filetransfer/ [1] https://objective-see.com/products/blockblock.html

It's right there on the FileTransfer page... "Open Android File Transfer. The next time that you connect your device, it opens automatically".

That's not magic mate, something needs to monitor for your Android device being connected otherwise you'd complain that it's not as user friendly as other Mac apps.

You're right. But it was a minor point in my post. Main point was data siphoning from users of all Google services, software and devices as primary business model. I might've overreacted with this app because of my lack of trust to Google.

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