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I understand why this comment was deleted, but how come it was detached and made into a top-level thread? I'm not against it or anything (if I sound like I am),
by ihuman 10y ago
I understand why this comment was deleted, but how come it was detached and made into a top-level thread? I'm not against it or anything (if I sound like I am), I just don't see anything in the rules or FAQ about it, so I was curious.
- dang 10y agoWe do that because then we can mark the subthread off-topic, putting it much lower on the page. If we didn't detach it first, marking off-topic would only put it lower among its siblings. This originated as a technique for dealing with "topjacking", i.e. comments that are posted as a reply to the top comment, not because they're relevant replies but simply to be nearer the top of the page. Later, we realized it was useful to demote subthreads where people were breaking the HN guidelines. When we do this, we nearly always post a comment explaining that we did it. For mind-numbingly boring reading, see https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=comment&query=by:dang%20detached https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=... and https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=comment&query=by:sctb%20detached https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=....
- Normal_gaussian 10y agoThose may only be mind numbing for you who have to go through it every day, I really enjoyed the first two pages. Couldn't imagine having to do the replies though - a suprisingly large number had been customised!
- dang 10y ago> I really enjoyed the first two pages Ha! Well that made me laugh out loud. Yes, we write all those comments by hand and often make a point of customizing them. I even plant little bits of entertainment in there sometimes (hopefully not at anyone's expense), on the theory that the hivemind enjoys tidbits of variety.