skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Is /r/Stuff, /r/iAMA_troll_AmA, /r/PaoMustResign, or /r/EllenPao_IsA_Cunt even default subreddits? I didn't see any of those on the front page that day. If they aren't default, then does it really matter? If trolls want to troll away in their own little troll cave, so be it?
I'm going to disagree. I've been in IRC, Forums, Newsgroups, lurked 4Chan, Reddit, and Slashdot for years. It has actually been evolving to a point, especially among the younger crowd to get bent out of shape about essentially nothing. Maybe that is because more of our lives are online than before, but if you were to go through Twitter and Tumblr and just browse around it is a huge mess of people constantly being offended and wanting an apology. I'm not defending the Redditors that legitimately harassed Ellen Pao.

However, modern media (like Gawker, Vox, Salon, Slate, etc) can somehow turn 3 tweets from anonymous people with no followers into a national shit storm. These media outlets feed the trolls, because it gets them clicks. So, it is of my opinion that the "trolls" aren't "winning" the battle, they just haven't left, and never will. The news outlets are click junkies and know they can foment faux rage by enticing people who otherwise we would have just ignored 10+ years ago. Of course they look large in numbers if you're putting them under the microscope. The thing people who have little online experience miss is that they are making things worse by giving people attention and trying to "silence" them.
Could a Catastrophic Earthquake Really Destroy Seattle?
I've been following the Ellen Pao debacle on Reddit, and her misuse of the term "troll" in the article illustrates her ignorance of Internet and Reddit culture that led to her stepping down as CEO.

I'm sure there were many offensive, harassing, and vitriolic comments and directed at her, however they were a result of her incompetent actions and failure to understand the culture that caused the problem, not due to trolls or trolling.
Thanks wangjii!

I'm still figuring that out, but I know it involves a lot of hustlin' on my end.
I love that quote, especially since some claim vulgarity is harassment, abuse and bigotry.
You're just going to alienate people with that kind of thinking.

How do you define hate, abuse and trolls?
In certain countries atheists are considered terrorists. Those who blog about atheism are haters and a bigot.
It's justified to hack them to death, imprison them or whip them.

In other countries female drivers are abusing the sensibilities of men.

Who is to say which ones are doing the censorship right, lol.
The major issue is the notion that "jerks sometimes" is evolving into "jerks all the time."

Not yet sure how much of this notion stems from the focus on the problem and how much is actual increase, but it's a problem nonetheless. Why do we tolerate as much trolling as we do? Why do we continue to see trolls as just trolls when we have evidence of people being bullied to suicide via the signal-magnification effect of online interaction?
Like other people display Obama as a non-american, Donald Trump as Hitler and so on. As a public character you should be able to handle that.
The original is here: http://falstad.com/circuit

He already swapped out the old java version with this same javascript (GWT-based) one.

There are several other good simulations on that site, too, and many other good animated physics simulations here: http://phet.colorado.edu/

And for those asking what's the use - there's a lot of research on the PHET simulations about their benefits for learning. I myself used Falstad's simulation in my dissertation. Students who just finished their first circuits course used this sim and learned stuff in minutes that they hadn't learned all semester, like what happens when you add a capacitor to a DC circuit, or the difference between capacitors and inductors in an AC circuit, and the effects of changing capacitance, inductance, and resistance in a circuit. In a regular circuits class, you can get by with just memorizing equations, but this simulation helps you understand what the equations mean and what is actually happening in the circuits you learn about.
You'd need to pretty carefully define "within reason", though; it's not reasonable to select without regard to cost.
Don't like trolls.

Don't visit reddit.
The Internet?

They are gaining ground everywhere. Winning the argument is more important than being right.
The situation at reddit is appalling and the death threats and egregious harassment against Pao were wrong, and likely illegal in some cases.

That said, my opinion of her is that she is far from the champion that this battle needs. I believe that the most common view of Pao is not too savory, between her husbands ponzi scheme, the details that came out of the KPCB trial and the plethora of other poor decision taken by her, she has made it easy to find faults with her character.
How many thousands of people weren't? Was it statistically significant? Or is this another case of focusing on the insignificant <1%, many of which are trolls, and pretending it's somehow a majority or significant amount of people with sincere feelings[0]?

[0] http://i.imgur.com/lTMU3Vy.png
I don't see any benchmarks showing improvements in 5.2. The 5.2 information seems sparse. Could you point this out?
Maybe it was only hundreds of people using ten accounts each, but you only have to look at her comment history to see all the messages.
i just think its dumb how people want to "change" the internet, or anything for that matter. its not a tamable creature, its anarchy and chaos and humanity in all of its glory, good or bad.

it bothers me when people say we need to take something off the internet... no really, we dont, it was put there for a reason, no matter how misguided that reason may be. hate speech, no matter how distasteful is still free speech. dont want to see it on reddit, dont look for it! i mean quite frankly, if you are fat and self conscious, going to a "fat haters" forum is probably going to end poorly for you.

as for her statistic about 40% of internet users saying they have been bullied... welcome to the real world lady! run that same quiz in a random highschool and i'd bet its double that percentage... people are mean. why should the internet not reflect real life? art imitates life.

it also bothers me these people saying we need to change hiring practices and other such nonsense. many things self regulate, leave them alone.
barely: the DEA buying it for other countries, and the FBI using it for low-importance stuff
Went down about an hour ago, at least seems like it.
I miss those days when I was proud to be a troll, when it meant tricking people into thinking in ways that they normally wouldn't. People used to love trolls! Of course, it didn't just mean that. There were also troll raids when friends would get together and make silly comments on every thread they could find, crashing the party but having fun with it. The incendiary ones used to be called flamers, but I think that term is too trollish to use against trolls these days.
In my opinion mercurial's codebase is much better than bazaar's. It's concise and to the point, uses classes when necessary and functions in other cases, following logic is usually straightforward task and it educates well. On the other hand, bazaar's codebase is a mess of hundreds of classes, relations of which are often hard to understand, they are hard to navigate and IMO it's over-engineered. Even writing a plugin for bzr is hard because there is plenty of docs which usually say nothing substantial and codebase is so hard to navigate.

Disclaimer: contributed to mercurial (and wrote some plugins), wrote few plugins for bzr (it was used in one company I worked for).

P.S. Didn't notice right away, hey, Dirkjan! :)
There are a couple of things you could consider around submitting question series that could make it perfect for teacher lead quizes in class, too - happy to help with a few ideas if you were looking on expanding in that direction.
Given her past, Ellen Pao is not very credible. Her opinion seems part of her self serving rhetoric that is now focused on presenting herself as a martyr.

Incivility has always been a problem in human society--it's magnified by the internet, because of the lack of consequences.
Optimizing for specific metrics is dangerous, and makes a big difference
Introducing the HelloSign API Dashboard
It might help (depending on just how hard they make it to reset your PIN over the phone) but it probably wouldn't happen. Credit card companies make money when you use your card. As such, they want you to use your card as much as possible. Anything which increases the friction of a card transaction reduces how much people use their cards, and thus directly impacts their bottom line.

Not requiring a PIN is an example of this. If your customers have to memorize and enter a PIN, this added friction will cause at least some of them to pay cash (or whatever other payment method) instead. That's lost revenue.

Similarly, it shocks many people to learn that credit card merchant agreements forbid requiring customers to show ID as part of the transaction. Seems like a sensible way to fight fraud, right? But it also adds friction, which reduces credit card use rates, which hurts card company profits, so they don't let you do that.

This stuff is all a careful tradeoff. They know how much they lose to fraud, and how much they gain in legitimate transactions from making things easier. The goal is not zero fraud, but rather whatever level of fraud is optimal for their profits, which is almost certainly not zero.
Yep, it's the same concept, but different implementations.

For FriendsTonight, we really want people to be spontaneous. So all likes, matches, and chats disappear at the end of the night.
GCC has a warning for that, and yes, it should be.
Rule #1: Never feed the trolls. She has just given them a feast. I miss FidoNet, it used to be so easy to shut down abuse and the conversations were so much more thoughtful. I wonder if we can ever get that back.
It sounds like you might be a short sleeper.

http://www.sleepeducation.com/sleep-disorders-by-category/in...
http://www.flamewarriorsguide.com/warriorshtm/troller.htm

It referred to trolling the way fishermen troll for fish.

It didn't really have anything to do with the "ogre" definition of troll, but that's what it means in most people's minds now.
Does "Just don't feed the trolls" continue to work in a world where trolls know that SWATting someone is as easy as picking up a phone, and doxxing someone can have significant long-term consequences?
> ... manipulated into voting the absolute worst politicians ...

I've never really followed an Argentine election closely, but I'm curious is they have options. In other words, Is there often a significantly better political representative that is overlooked, or is it more of a "lesser of all evils" situation?
So… We Realized Our Brand Sucks. Now What?
Christie Blatchford's skew is quite heavy in this reporting. I've seen the other side of the argument with some of the behaviours and tweets in question, and it's not so clear cut. I would definitely feel harassed by this individual, and in Canada, we do not claim to have the free speech as defined in America. Hate speech is not tolerated here, and most Canadians are in agreement with this. You can have a difference of opinion, but if you attack someone with words, there are legal consequences.
Woah, new and esoteric indeed!

X.0.0 is experimental development
X.0.1 is pre-release stabilization stage
X.1.0 is the stable release
X.1.1 is development of release branch (fixes and backports)
X.2.0 is the second stable release

It looks like only X.1.0, X.2.0, etc uniquely tag a single point in the development history. Are all the others just moving labels?
> I have just endured one of the largest trolling attacks in history.

I feel bad for Ellen and have nothing against her, I don't really go on reddit much. I am aware that she was more or less a scapegoat. But still, for some reason, AND even though the second sentence of the article almost saves face, this statement still bothers me. Sure, she got picked on by reddit quite a bit for lack of transparency, and got thrown under the bus by other high-ranking officials at Reddit.

But to come out and make yourself seem like a champion still illustrates her inflated sense of importance - she's a millionaire exec in an interim position who made mistakes, and got called out in an online forum.
If you're just beginning, and don't have a particular need for any one framework, I'd say go with Angular. It's by far the most widely used and popular of the choices (using github stars, # of modules, stackoverflow questions, github contributors, and github forks as indicators).
The front page of Reddit was littered with derogatory Pao posts for days on end following the shutdown of /r/fph and firing of Victoria. I'm sure she also received a large amount of private hate messages too.
Exactly - The BLS takes a selection of 400 common household items to calculate the rate of inflation [0]. It's really quite interesting what items they include and their thought process behind it.

[0] http://www.bls.gov/dolfaq/bls_ques3.htm
It's not just about mislabeling, or false accusations. There is a certain element of hypocrisy, too.

A demonstration of this is in the article:

"In May, the company banned harassment of individuals from the site. Last month, we took down sections of the site that drew repeat harassers. Then, after making these policy changes to prevent and ban harassment, I, along with several colleagues, was targeted with harassing messages, attempts to post my private information online and death threats. These were attempts to demean, shame and scare us into silence."

On one hand, these people affiliated with reddit did not appreciate these alleged "attempts to demean, shame and scare us into silence" when they were the recipients.

Yet these same people were perfectly willing, and perhaps even proud, to silence other reddit users, whether at an individual level or by eliminating entire subreddits.

In fact, the article in this case could very well be seen as an attempt to "demean, shame and scare" the alleged "trolls" into silence. It engages in the sort of behavior that it is deeming as unacceptable!
Ugh.

But that balancing act is getting harder. The trolls are winning.

The success of the original balancing act was that there wasn't one--it was an open platform, it was a loose federation, and it was decentralized. By creating these massive walled gardens and trying to monetize them, companies like Reddit have suddenly had to take a stand.

Short surprise that they're running into problems that didn't exist before they decided to create these massive platforms. If you democratize access to mass point-to-point communications, guess what? By definition, half of your users are of below average empathy and responsibility.

But to attract more mainstream audiences and bring in the big-budget advertisers, you must hide or remove the ugly.

Gentrification of the Internet.

As the threats became really violent, people ended their messages with “stay safe.”

Threats can be graphic, not violent--if they're violent, they're not threats.
That's kind of what happens when you noun a verb that is already a noun with a very different meaning.
This is exactly right. Reasoning ends when the feelings start. I am not even sure if I understand -btw. usually attributed to religious people- the concept of getting offended. If somebody says something you don't like and you don't want to hear just walk away, close the tab, delete the email.
Ask HN: Is it worth creating an API SDK for someone else's company?
I regularly work with a companies client API SDK and it's in fairly bad shape. The principles applied are very outdated by about 3 years.

However, it still just works...

Is it worth me, spending personal time, updating their client SDK? Is the adoption rate for something like this fairly good or will it just be a waste of time? It looks like the companies SDK was last updated about 2 years ago and now needs a major refactoring.
I totally support that, but the Internet is probably the worst and hardest place to try initiate that change.

Opposed to the real world, wannabe bullies have zero chance of seeing a reaction from their victims if those do not react. Online bullies like there DO lose their interest. Just look at past outrages on reddit to see. People need to despise that these short-term hype shitstorms are not worth reacting to'. Maybe ask PR campaigners how they handle it, there should be decades of research.

I am obviously excluding actual stalkers, sociopaths etc. Those are hard problems but not one you can as easily treat and not a widespread problem.
How so? That's sort of the whole point of law and the government. You may not follow the law, and you may be punished if you don't, but they are always supposed to. You don't forfeit all your rights just because you break the law.
Down the Rabbit Hole: on viral texts and linking to sources
What makes you think that kind of vulgar racial slur (even if it's a reference) is excusable? By referencing it you've added to that voice.
The submitted article is about the state of trolling in general. It uses Pao's own experience as one particular example.

When he says that the "troll" label is overly used, that does not mean he is claiming it was inappropriate in any particular case, such as when applied to what was directed at Pao.
Great article leoplct- I definitely read this article and it influenced the way I designed my app.

FriendsTonight can't force you to meet new people, but we try to make it as less awkward as possible by making it "groups meeting groups" not "person meeting person".

It totally is a very complex process to meet a person, but I'm trying to make my dent in the world : )
One could argue that she should never be subjected to it to begin with. It's not bad argument either.

I am not disagreeing with you, just saying you can't expect people not to pick #1 or use #3 to make a buck or two.
Yeah, maybe I'm just going into old-fogey-hood, but I'd like to repeat a Reddit post from 3-4 years ago involving the definition I use for trolling. There are three core features:

1. Trolling always means the user is, in some way, not sincere or not honest in their interactions

Either they do not believe what they are saying, or else they are saying it only because they have an ulterior motive/goal which is not obvious or apparent.
No matter how moronic, argumentative, or misinformed a person might be, they cannot be a troll if they are trying to be honest and their motives are straightforward.

As you leave the context of internet forums and discussions, the words "sincere" and "honest" get trickier to apply. For example, if you are playing a strategy game, the enemy is not "trolling" when they trick you about what kind of army they are building, because that kind of thing doesn't represent a breach of trust..

2. Trolling is always about triggering or goading victims into a reaction

Causing injury or offense to another person is not--on its own--trolling. If a pickpocket steals your wallet and runs away, he did not "troll" you, because he doesn't care about how you react, he just wants to escape with your cash.

If a fast-food employee secretly spits in your hamburger, they are not "trolling" unless they expected you to notice...Or unless they start dropping little hints afterwards to prompt you for a reaction. Major asshole, yes, troll, no.

99% of the time the troll is seeking a reaction with an emotional component. "Negative" reactions such as rage, frustration, or annoyance are especially common.

Not-so-negative reactions can be used, but are less common. For example, an atheist troll might say encouraging things to make a fundamentalist-Christian community enter into a celebratory circle-jerk.

3. Trolling is not the same as humor, trolling can incorporate humor, but only in a "mean-spirited" way

Many people seem to get confused by this, since jokes and humor often fall under both #1 and #2 above, being attempts to use insincere words to cause an emotional reaction.

Trolls are never laughing "with" their victims. They are always laughing "at" their victims.

Trolls may sometimes try to get you to laugh, but if they do it is only because there is some "larger joke" which you are the butt of.

______

Side-note: When people troll badly, I prefer not to call them trolls. This is sort of like how someone who burned a meal isn't "a cook". Sure, they technically did the "act of cooking", but it seems like calling them "a cook" wrongly implies that they are good at it.

Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/p7u3k/troll_level_mas...
Additionally, depending on what you're trying to measure, there are a variety of different sorts of ways to adjust for inflation. The CPI is a measure of consumer prices, and used by the Fed as a target for inflation in order to maintain price stability, but there are others: http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/

The CPI is flawed, of course, like any attempt to turn 300 million peoples' worth of purchases into a single number. The Federal Reserve itself thinks that it's a little bit on the high side, not doing enough to adjust for the changes that occur when better products are introduced or when people change their purchasing behavior (e.g. switching to generic products): http://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic...

> a lot of work (and tables) go into that number.

Economics is a whole field of study.
Because bullies didn't exist before the Internet? I can't wait to tell my kids that I got beat up on the playground before it was cool!
It would have to cleanly and simply manage all of the different needs that small teams have: bug tracking, issue tracking, feature requests, prioritization, code changes, etc.

My rule of thumb for switching to new tech is that the new app must be a 10x improvement over the old app, whether that's 10x cheaper, 10x faster, 10x features, or however I wanna measure it. If it's not that much better, then the paperwork/training hassle isn't gonna be worth it for my team to switch. One example is the Hipchat/Slack discussion. We used Hipchat before Slack was a thing. Slack looks awesome. But is it 10x more awesome than Hipchat? I've never been convinced, and it's just not worth the hassle of setting everyone up with Slack accounts and software for the incremental improvement.

Right now, bug tracking is tedious but manageable. You need to make it 10x easier, 10x cheaper, or 10x more features (or some smaller combination thereof) in order for people to consider it a no-brainer to switch.

And to be honest, that's a tall order. You risk turning into a Salesforce-esque nightmare where you're trying to do everything at once. If you could somehow unify one or two of those things into one coherent, easy to use app (a la Zenefits or Workday or ZenPayroll), then you'd be on the right track.

Good luck!
If being a warrier of social justice is a slur then bring them on. Could the people who are against speaking out for women and other minorities have picked a more ridiculous phrase to try and make an insult?
Should we repeal the first amendment because people sometimes used racial or ethnic slurs? Or they deny the moon landing? Or say things that your preferred political party happens to disagree with? Or maybe only things that YOU disagree with?
If the autoimmune disease of our society is so fucked up that SWATing is a viable tactic, things need to be fixed. If these media outlets spent half as much effort addressing that sort of shortcoming, maybe things would be better.

Instead, they use their power for clickbait, and that means that the few times they do cover it they're dismissed as just another one of those "This unemployed veteran consumed bath salts--you'll never guess what happened next" or "1 easy tip for getting out of criminal charges--the ACLU hates this (white) guy".