[sndgndgndgndy]

Dang, I would appreciate a reply, since you kind of skirted around my main point, which is that pro-Israel accounts have been posting copy-pasted verbatim-identical talking points going back all the way to at least 2014. Multiple accounts are literally posting the same word-for-word replies, but we're supposed to pretend that it's impossible for state actors to run influence operations on HN. How?

[dang]

You haven't supplied any links of that kind. Where are these accounts that are "literally posting the same word-for-word replies"?

We need something objective to go on (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...) or all this just reduces to the mist of imagination.

You've given me one link so far, and I gave you an in-depth reply. That's not "skirting around" and it's not telling you to "pretend" (as if such a thing would work). If you want me to engage with you seriously, you should omit such swipes. Writing in-depth responses to these questions is extremely time-consuming, and that means taking time away from the other 50,000 things we're overwhelmed with. I'm not going to keep doing this if you signal that you're unwilling to accept an answer you don't already agree with.

It is common on open internet forums (like HN) for people to become convinced that they're surrounded by enemies, and eventually that the mods are in cahoots with their enemies - because the alternative is to believe the simpler-but-more-painful theory that other legit users sincerely and strongly disagree with them. I've written about this many times (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23308098).

[sndgndgndgndy]

I'm not asking for a multi-paragraph in-depth reply: I want you answer how these two posts that I linked to from 2014

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406178

and

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8406257

arrived at the same "Please, no simplified propaganda on HN" phrasing when they're coming from separate accounts within a short period of time. You've written a lot of text, but so far you still haven't answered how these two pro-Israel accounts ended up posting the exact same phrasing if they're not sockpuppets. I'm not sure how I can make it any more clear.

[dang]

This is so absurd that I can hardly spell out how absurd it is.

(1) You didn't link to those two posts, only one of them (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900528). Now you're complaining that I "still haven't answered" a question you didn't ask in the first place.

(2) Are you seriously asking me to tell you why 2 comments from 12 years ago happened to use the same turn of phrase? How should I know? Perhaps one saw the other say it and repeated it.

(3) The fact that you have to go back to 2014 to even pose your question is self-refuting. If this were a serious issue, you'd have no difficulty supplying recent examples.

[sndgndgndgndy]

I linked to a discussion thread linking to the other post. My point is that Hasbara has been active on HN for a long time and you're turning a blind eye to it. On other sites you will frequently see their sockpuppets posting the same verbatim-identical talking points, and they were sloppier about parroting the same lines on HN back then. They have a major presence here, and you need to stop pretending that they don't exist. Hasbara is a civilian-state fusion that enlists regular Israelis to shill for the government while making smalltalk on the side to appear organic.

[dang]

> I linked to a discussion thread linking to the other post.

Where?

> and you're turning a blind eye to it

I spent over an hour taking seriously, looking into, and responding to the concern you raised, only to be accused of "turning a blind eye". That is what one gets for being an internet idiot, which was obviously my mistake here.

> On other sites you will frequently see

That is what people resort to when they have no evidence to point to on HN itself, which is already clear from your having to go back as far as 2014 to dig anything up. HN gets millions of posts a year—from randomness alone you shouldn't have to go far back to come up with something that looks plausible, however superficially.

[sndgndgndgndy]

I originally linked to the thread with my first post referencing the 2014 discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900528.

I gave you that thread because it sticks out in my memory as the oldest, most egregious example of Hasbara on HN, and those posts are a testament to how deeply embedded they are on this site and how much they have expanded their operations here since then. Apparently, your former self agrees too, otherwise you wouldn't have banned one of those Hasbara accounts. I can provide you with lots of newer, softer examples, but my point is that Hasbara has been here parroting the same identical state-approved talking points for over a decade.