Evan DiBiase
6 HN mentions · mentioned in 5 months, 2009–2023
1:19 · 24K views · Jun 10, 2006
A one-minute clip in which columnist John C. Dvorak explains to Dave Winer his technique for trolling the Apple community.
HN cites it as proof that Dvorak writes inflammatory columns for clicks, to discredit his opinions.
6 comments from Hacker News
I got modded into a smouldering crater for pointing out that another article was a massive troll.[1] I think I was modded down for the fact that I enjoyed it: despite the fact I was highlighting it was a troll and that people shouldn't take it seriously. Almost everything in tech journalism these days consists of hyperbole or trolling to get maximum hits or, failing that, thinly reworded press releases and superficial reviews to minimize the actual effort required to publish. There are a few exceptions - namely things like the really in-depth SSD reviews conducted by Anandtech which actually had well constructed benchmarks, told you something new and really valuable and actually went and did interviews with major players - but these are the exceptions that prove the rule. Bonus points: video of Dvorak admitting he trolls Apple users in his columns.[2] [1] [LINK] [2] this video
for those who don't have 'showdead' on: ftse here. I didn't know my account was dead to the world, but thanks jacquesm for letting me know. In hindsight my comment at [LINK] does appear trollish, but I assumed the bright sparks reading would have taken it in context. It was exactly the type of comment Dvorak would have made in defence of the accusation that he is a professional troll. Anyway, he has admitted this on video to Dave Winer, see this video . The fact that I was posting this comment in irony was obviously lost, though, on mustpax who said I should be civil. As much as I admire what pg has done here with NH, I really can't be bothered writing to him to explain all this if his code doesn't have the charity to let me know when I'm wasting my time talking to myself.
ftse here. I didn't know my account was dead to the world, but thanks jacquesm for letting me know. In hindsight my comment at [LINK] does appear trollish, but I assumed the bright sparks reading would have taken it in context. It was exactly the type of comment Dvorak would have made in defence of the accusation that he is a professional troll. Anyway, he has admitted this on video to Dave Winer, see this video . The fact that I was posting this comment in irony was obviously lost, though, on mustpax who said I should be civil. As much as I admire what pg has done here with NH, I really can't be bothered writing to him to explain all this if his code doesn't have the charity to let me know when I'm wasting my time talking to myself.
I agree with much of the essay, but I can't tell if it's a parody either. I associate the author, who cohosts an InfoWars-style podcast, with some of the kinds of bad content he complains about in this essay. It's also possible he's trolling for pageviews, which he has, by his own admission (ie: this video ), done in the past.
John C. Dvorak is an admitted anti-Apple troll who went all in on click-bait to drive advertising revenue: a pioneer, if you will. [0] Eventually, he pissed of his editorship about 5G advertorial and was fired. [1] [2] [0] this video [1] [LINK] [2] [LINK]