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Comment by ad404b8a372f2b9 | Hacker News Reader

I don't know if your work in SEO has affected your speech but this sounds a 100% like an ad that people write about themselves online to promote their services. It follows all the patterns of false testimonials you'd usually hear in infomercials.

Sorry if it's genuine, I also sometimes like to recommend people and companies I've had good experiences with.

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I agree it sounds like an ad. A quick search found this however: https://joelx.com/how-to-beat-a-patent-troll-in-east-texas/1... which makes me think it's legit. Weird it's almost verbatim from the blog post, but hey why bother spending time on a new write-up I guess.

My apologies for my writing style, I guess my years in SEO have had a strong effect!

I'm extremely grateful for the work Amit did for me, he did not compensate me or even request that I post this for him.

As the original blog post said, patent trolls are predators that rely on the fact that it costs companies over a million dollars to defend a case even if they win so that they can extort tens of thousands of dollars without much work.

We need to abolish the patent system altogether, as everyone on here knows ideas are worthless and execution is everything. The best way to protect real innovators is to prevent artificial monopolies rising up preventing them from competing in the market.

Another comment of author is also their another blog post.

Well unless people are selling their hacker news accounts, it’s seems genuine and I just think the poster was very appreciative and hence posting. Sometimes we can all be too cynical

It's not like they were hocking their company. They specifically gave out information on someone they hired outside of the company. Yes, there a little self-promotion listing URL and what not, but it was much more about the attorney they hired. meh

It's not necessarily just the content, but the style and delivery of that content.

Which in this case, certainly reads like a boilerplate advertisement you read on a Top 10 How To Advertise listicle. Good faith advice or not.

I guess you'd rather see something like:

Yo dawg!!! You'll never guess what happened to me when those bizsnitch little lawyers tried to sue me for some whack azz shiznit yo! Yo! You gotta call my bro the bizsnitch laywer asskickin mofo! Just smash them digits 555-212-0420 and he'll go to work for you yo!

Or maybe somewhere in between?

Of course you don't know that the company is real, that the person is who they claim they are, nor do you know whether they have an advertising contract with the person they recommend.

Also there is no need for the caricature, there are certainly more sincere sounding ways to recommend someone than following the standard testimonial script:

"I am [person] with [relevant characteristics or employment]. I had this exact [problem] and thankfully [advertiser] was able to help me.

When I first got this [problem] I was [emotionally affected in a personal and relatable way]. Other companies told me they had better [price/solutions]. Thankfully I found [advertiser] and they were able to help me like no others. [Short snippet demonstrating advertiser holds values important to the target demographic (price/effectiveness/privacy/dedication/...)]. I would definitely trust them again if [problem] happened again. [Prompt for you to trust them and give them your business.]"

Here are testimonials for cash for gold for comparison: https://vimeo.com/35628298

This is hilarious if it's satire. Pretty sad if its a genuine recommendation.

But you are right, its too hard to tell.

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