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Comment by simias | Hacker News Reader

I can't believe this kind of submission manages to work on HN. This is pure clickbait devoid of any content. Nothing to spark a debate or "gratify one's intellectual curiosity", to cite the guidelines.

It's just "Click here if you want the good guys (us) to win!", and people are clicking. Amazing. And people are wondering why long-form journalism is dying.

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Your comment manages to be on top despite having little content. So?

EDIT: HN is not a journalistic site. So don't worry about the decline of journalism in this context.

Personally, I think it is very legitimate to appeal to sentiments, because of the three means of persuasion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric_%28Aristotle%29) pathos foremost agitates people to actions. And sometimes, it is necessary to act (and inform the public). That you disagree with others on this very issue is no reason for insult.

In Rome, do as the Romans. Simias's post has much more content than the video, and makes a self-contained argument. The link submitted presents a page with a video imploring us to... what.. share the video? Because it will make a difference? Why? Also, what are we making a difference in again? Why is the government a dictatorship? When did that happen? (I'm not asking, I'm saying the video doesn't answer any of the above questions, which are critical to the appeal for support)

Honest question, is there such a thing as down-vote for submissions (not comments) on HN? After reading a ton of StackOverflow election posts, I believe adding more self-moderation to HN frequenters could help reduce link bait and improve overall quality. That is, the mods here are active, but so are the readers.

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