“Hacker X”—the American who built a pro-Trump fake news empire—unmasks himself

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MrPickins

Diamond Member
May 24, 2003
9,011
558
126
I don't know if anyone else has been following this, but I've finally gotten through both articles and all of the comments.

IMO, it looks like Ars Techinca has, mostly credulously, accepted a narrative pretty obviously intended to whitewash the reputation of the articles' subject. (not saying his name so he doesn't get any more SEO love)

See Fancy Internet Person's running commentary for a short version

The response by the editorial staff to the commenters valid questions and concerns has been even worse, extremely tone deaf. Then, they lock both comment threads. The first was getting a bit angry, but the second was actually very civil.

I've really lost a lot of respect for Ars over this, and I'm pretty sad about it, because IMO, they have been one of the most trustworthy sites for tech news for a long time.
 

cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
23,047
12,715
136
So.. Jim Jones has second thoughts, rushing into the crowd yelling “dont take the poison I was lying I was lying” and his cult followers : We don’t believe you. Takes the poison.

As you define your self as an “experiment” it IS one hell of a fascinating experiment. Too bad existence as we know it is on the line. Hey. It is what it is.
 
Mar 11, 2004
23,031
5,495
146
I don't know if anyone else has been following this, but I've finally gotten through both articles and all of the comments.

IMO, it looks like Ars Techinca has, mostly credulously, accepted a narrative pretty obviously intended to whitewash the reputation of the articles' subject. (not saying his name so he doesn't get any more SEO love)

See Fancy Internet Person's running commentary for a short version

The response by the editorial staff to the commenters valid questions and concerns has been even worse, extremely tone deaf. Then, they lock both comment threads. The first was getting a bit angry, but the second was actually very civil.

I've really lost a lot of respect for Ars over this, and I'm pretty sad about it, because IMO, they have been one of the most trustworthy sites for tech news for a long time.

Yeah, that article seemed off from the get go and I couldn't believe I was reading such shit on Ars. They've been slipping for a while now, but that article was the same as the Anandtech one where they interviewed the scumbags that tried smearing AMD. Permanently stained their rep, and the fact they were oblivious to how bad it made them look is just astounding. The utterly tone deaf response just further highlights that they have systemic issues that didn't just blind them it actually full on deluded them into believing they were being objective and fair/balanced, when they were being manipulated by their subject to leverage the rep they'd built to try and legitimize their con.
 
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