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0 pointsleoh5y ago0 comments

It's dishonest because it doesn't offer a balanced view, merely articulating all the products Google has killed without offering any kind of insight as to _why_ they killed so many products or the fact that they didn't really "kill" some products at all. Sure, it's not "inaccurate." But framing is everything, and we're increasingly living in an intensely context-free, implicitly dishonest world. I could build a website where all I talk about all day is all the cool things Trump does (he undoubtedly does at least some cool shit) without a single mention of his inadequacies. Would you disagree with the dishonest characterization there?

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4 comments · 2 top-level

vasachi5y ago· 2 in thread

You can’t be dishonest by telling the truth.

MaulingMonkey5y ago

The best lies are often told through plausibly deniable context, subtext, and implication - where the blame can be shifted to the listener instead of the speaker - while speaking not a single word that wasn't "the truth". Tell the truth such that it sounds like a lie. Tell the truth so it sounds as if it were the full truth instead of merely half the story. I'd consider doing these things intentionally to be dishonest.

I don't think I'd go so far as to call the website dishonest - I don't think it's necessairly trying to present itself as telling a full, balanced, unbiased story - but it's absolutely possible to be dishonest by telling the truth.

leohOP5y ago

Yes you can. Did you read the thing you replied to? Please also consider https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227763292_Storks_De..., "Storks Deliver Babies (p= 0.008)" as a particularly illustrative real-world example.

theamk5y ago

As a user, it absolutely does not matter “why” to me.

I see a new google product. Should I spend time getting used to it? A service is provided by Google or a third-party app. Should I choose Google “by default”?

I recently spent a few days trying to get google cloud print to work. It will be killed in a few months. Do I care why - was it replaced by competitor’s product, was it non-monetizeable, was it for the good of other developers? Nope, I don’t care.

The main point of this website is to illustrate that Google products, even if nice and polished, sometimes live much shorter than desired. And website does this splendidly.

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