The funny thing is the bastards are still trying to pretend this is all just about people losing free access to the API, when it is now quite firmly about them and their plantation mentality toward users and their unskillful power tripping. It’s all how weak people think strong people act, and it’s equal parts infuriating and pathetic.
If nothing of consequence is released, I’ll pay a little more credence to the theories that this is an inside job meant to discredit the opposition. If OTOH the data does show a disturbing level of detail being collected on users, and it exposes Reddit’s secret shadowbanning and deboosting of folks it doesn’t like, it’s going to empower the resistance like nothing else that’s happened yet. Spez is arguably in the self own business but this would take it to brand new heights.
People HATE that deboosting shit. People HATE the idea that the corps track this data to try and get inside your head and see how you think and act, so they can better influence it to their own ends. And right now, it’s no longer really about an app as it is, it’s all about meta. This will be gasoline on the fire.
I trust it more, I’d say.
I knew of Nate Silver back when his claim to fame was as a sabermetrician and the creator of a statistical model used to predict how baseball players would perform in the future based on present and prior statistical data. That was PECOTA. I actually liked PECOTA. In the long run I think you’d call it a useful failure. But Nate’s baseball takes were actually very good and quite objective in nature. And he obviously was very good working with statistics.
I got amped up when I learned he was taking his skills into the arena of political analysis. If you remember the early years had a mix of success and failure but was usually good enough to draw onlookers. But something went wrong with all that after a few years – Silver started showing bias in favor of candidates that he had consulting deals with. The objectivity just wasn’t there, he was acting as a paid spokesman would. And the quality of his predictions suffered, as did his demeanor after a while. It was disappointing.
I regard the guy as someone with a deep understanding of political statistics and data who can help paint a very detailed picture, but he displays too much bias to be trusted to remain objective when it matters. It’s kinda like having a defense lawyer. You always know in advance whose side they will take.
Whoever the new guys is, I guess we’ll see whether he will remain a statistician, or follows Silver into trying his hand at becoming an influencer.
so they’re going to e_rat_icate them?