Hacker News Reader

Reminds me of Jugaad [0] or Chabuduo mindset in mainland China.

Basically if all it takes is getting citations, then forming a citation ring is "Chabuduo" and you'll only lose face if you are caught (not good enough).

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugaad

View on HN

This kind of collusion is driven far more by perverse incentives than some alleged cultural phenomenon of half-assery people like to attach an incorrect but exotic-sounding foreign phrase to. I can't speak for Jugaad, but 差不多 ("Chabuduo") is not at all appropriate here [1]. Just call it what it is: cheating, collusion and conspiracy.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27052249. This reminds me of the Japanese buzzword bingo of earlier decades.

Jugaad is very different from this sort of collusion.

From the wiki article it sounds like it just refers to extremely improvised engineering, something akin to "bubble gum and baling wire" or "MacGyvering" something. Something like a kludge, but a bit less pejorative.

like, uh, hacking—hacking together something?

Yes, but "hack" is so overloaded and has so many definitions that using it as a definition itself is supremely unhelpful.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com