Editing Blog/2026-01-06/Is The Internet Dead? (section)

== Why Do This? ==

It's pretty widely known that the best way to get a seemingly honest review is to Google "Product Name reddit" and see people talk about it. This is likely true for other social networks as well. People want to see who thinks something is useful and they want to see it in the context where the people are doing so incidentally, i.e. it's not a car mechanic recommending car mechanics.

In general, I lean towards distributed incentive response for an explanation for behavior rather than top-down controls. I think it's less likely that The Government Is Controlling Our Thoughts Through Fake Reddit Accounts than that "there are unscrupulous social media marketing services that will create positive press for your product if you pay them".