How do "big brands" deal with efforts pretty clearly (but deniably) aimed at sabotaging their brand? Besides the ebay approach.

Like pissing in beer vats?[0]

Sometimes, you can't fight it, but other times, trying to correct can only make things worse.

This is where having sober, experienced PR people and CEOs comes into play. There's no "textbook" way to deal with this stuff. It is different, each time, so you need smart leaders (something in short supply, these days).

The company that I worked for, was a camera company. One of their brand-protection strategies, was to have as much control as possible over any images made public from their cameras.

They went waaaaaay out of their way to help photographers get the best results, and it was a bitch to get test images from prerelease kit.

[0] https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/corona-urine-rumor-cou...

I have been present for a sermon that smelled like chatgpt. It does make you wish you had sent your agent instead.

Hang on, you're saying I still get soul credits toward the afterlife if I send my AI agent to sermons?

Hahahaha, ohh man. Love it...

Hrm, this seems to be slop. Claude, gonna leave my phone in the pew, listen and give me a summary when it's over, I'll be in the car.

I've seen less-than-credible software in an ATM and in a "ring up your own groceries" station. No idea who's behind it or who would care, though.

If you feature a quote from someone, prominently, on a prominent website, you might check in with them to make sure they don't have any issues with the usage.

(I do sense artifice. Possibly wrongly.)

Extra points if its homepage can offer informative 80-character descriptions. (What is the term for this (suggested) web design?)

Add this to "HN for psychopaths" please.

Extra points for people who avoid gratuitous clickbait

It wasn't exactly disappointing. I loved to read The Old New Thing back in the day, Raymond's blog was full of stuff like this.

It's a little funny that no one is a human face of (interface to) Google Maps, or any platform with longevity these days. Talk to the faceless pretend person if you have a problem, maybe you'll feel better.

(they don't fix things anymore, do they?)

In this case, it was Google popping up to cheerfully ask if the news item was of interest to me. But then asking "why" and using dark-pattern wording on the answer options. (I do wonder if people who click on "the ad knew too much" (in that context) know what they're doing. This one was more subtle.)

Also, where is today's Usenet?