When big companies do, it's understandable - they know they can get away with it and they often do. But what makes these beloved and trusted folks commit such actions? (I've never used TB, but had heard so many good stories about them and had put them in my mind into that category of companies that almost send a handwritten note to their first 100 users, etc.)

Are we (users) perhaps partly to blame? Maybe we do let them get away and they know that? How many people are really going to delete their profile now? (instead of just opting out) Perhaps we should be more principled in our response to such things? Imagine they lose 90% of their user base because of this idiocy. May be that'd serve as a broader lesson of real ethics?

I remember well when Quora forced me to install their app on mobile (not just a reminder pop-up, they blocked the page fully) - I sweared to never use them ever again. I kept my promise for a year or so, and then somehow went back to reading it later; so I am guilty myself of not being principled. But these sort of decisions really really puzzle me.

The Quora thing was baffling to me. There fortunately is a querystring parameter, something like `block_mobile=1` that you can remove from the URL and keep using without the app.

I am afraid verified purchases are being gamed too. Sometimes I feel like scammers might be going to the extreme of coordinating clustered purchases (I am guessing the merchandise ends up in the owners hand/warehouse anyways somehow?) and posting the reviews.

This is not even mentioning incentivized reviwers who may be posting exaggerated (if not fake) reviews for promos, discounts, etc.

> Sometimes I feel like scammers might be going to the extreme of coordinating clustered purchases (I am guessing the merchandise ends up in the owners hand/warehouse anyways somehow?) and posting the reviews.

This is called brushing and there have been several articles written about it. Scammers create fake accounts for real addresses and then ship fake merchandise to those addresses to get the "verified purchase" for their review.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-brushing-scam-couple-rec...

One way in which Amazon has restricted this type of gaming is by restricting the ability of sellers to apply extreme discounting. Even legitimate attempts to do this such as liquidation can result in a warning from Amazon about rank/review manipulation.

However, real crooks just compensate verified buyers by paying them via Paypal, Payoneer, etc. You can't protect against that except through court order or by private sting investigation. Amazon does sue organizers of these schemes and has untangled some in that way, but that is challenging to scale.

Such a well written article. It was amusing that an article from 1998 ends with a footer with author's (Andrew Leonard) Twitter ref.

One of the most insightful pieces from the article:

""" "I realized at that point that there was a huge ecological niche between the C language and Unix shells," says Wall.

...

"People are always looking for the interstices," says Wall. "They are always looking for the new ecological niches. And the speed with which you can move into those ecological niches is really important, because the first person into a niche is often the winner." """

Constant emphasis on 'people of color' makes it hard to read and dilutes the main point. Such obsession to view everything through the length of race is mind boggling. This is seems to be a US thing.

I mean, you steal a bike, you are responsible. Whether you're mostly brown, mostly white or mostly blue is irrelevant. As simple as that.

I guess the point parent comment making is spying on the world (including allies)

By looking at their clients, if not sponsored, at least clearly affiliated. What junk load of nonsense press release.

My view of what happened is some clowns at the top wanted a proper, full interception of traffic. Besides the attention in international media it received, people had real issues accessing the internet properly (those who installed). So they simply could not execute their MITM properly. Putting aside privacy, etc. I expected simple operational ineptitude, which is what happened (gladly) and they dropped saying "it was a mere test".

PS, in 2011 the government tried something similar with Google's traffic and after Google started redirecting the KZ traffic they backed, saying some similar B.S. like "it was a test".

Exactly. One of my favourite apps, Quora, also did it some time ago (may be they still do) - forcing you to install the app if you're browsing them on mobile. I remember being shocked - shocked because while this (horrible) practice became a common thing, I'd always though of Quora highly, and assumed they'd never do something silly like that, but no, they'd disappointed.

What makes you imply that those who grind on Leetcode then forget?

I can confidently say that none of my technical interview practice has ever transferred to a useful skill in the job role, but I can confidently say it has helped me land jobs. Not using it definitely makes me forget it.

You don't forget, but you do fall out of practice doing what are essentially competitive programming exercises.

When you're in a situation in front of a whiteboard with 15-45 minutes to craft some algorithm it makes a ton of difference whether or you've been practicing.

Because these skills are use-it-or-lose-it. They will be LRU'd out by the skills you will actually use every day. I guarantee at your next job you will not have to roll your own red-black tree from scratch...

Agree, my wife and i love it but with violence kicking up and the political climate getting more authoritarian we are skipping visits.

How did you handle the stress of traffic jam?

After one year, moved to a closer place to work (in a walking distance). Most companies in Istanbul have shuttle services, so even when I had to commute it was not that bad.