4 ms·

To be fair its hard to know what merits censorship on Hacker News as well. Mods frequently remove posts that are inflamatory, political, "unsubstantive", and yo

To be fair its hard to know what merits censorship on Hacker News as well. Mods frequently remove posts that are inflamatory, political, "unsubstantive", and your very comment may well fall under their guidelines for removal.

dang 10y ago
> Mods frequently remove posts that are inflamatory, political, "unsubstantive", That's completely untrue. We reply to such comments asking people not to post those things. We sometimes detach such comments from their parents and mark them off-topic (which lowers them on the page). But removing them is precisely what we don't do. Where these notions come from is beyond me. You might think that if you scrupulously followed a policy of not doing X, people wouldn't blithely claim that X is your policy. Nope, not so.
- npiazza83 10y ago
  Detaching a post from its parent and marking it as off-topic seems to me a pretty pusillanimous semantic difference to outright deletion. Context is key to comprehension. My notion comes from a direct quote from you, dang. Our discussion on the subject several days ago. I don't mean to impugn you or the moderation of HN in general. I'll just re-iterate what I said then: I understand what you want but I find it sterile and incompatible with my personal values as should others and I encourage you to re-examine the goals you have for discussion on the site.
  - sillysaurus3 10y ago
    It's necessary to detach off-topic threads of discussion. The site was much worse when that wasn't the policy.
- aphextron 10y ago
  Hacker News is not the place to discuss politics. Take it to Reddit.
  - npiazza83 10y ago
    Sure, that's why there are daily front page articles here on Edward Snowden, the 2016 election, TTIP, Google and other's involvement in the Obama administration and the pentagon, the Coup in Turkey... You know what, let's just look at the front page right now... Kind of a slow news day. Let's take a look. Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London - Housing and Social Safety Net Ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker - Nuclear Proliferation and Arms treaties FDA Orders Antibacterials Removed from Consumer Soaps - Federal Regulation Mojave Desert solar plant kills 6,000 birds a year - Renewable Energy Initiatives and Climate Change Republic – Now everyone can invest in startups - SEC and federal banking regulation The National Economic Implications of a Taco Truck on Every Corner - Food safety and small business Canadian surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes - health and safety regulations
    - tomhoward 10y ago
      Those are blatant mischaracterizations of the articles, and your assertion in the first paragraph is highly inaccurate. I and others who've frequented HN for many years find that the quality of content and discussions has only improved through dang's moderation policies. It may not be for you - that's OK, it can't be for everyone. But HN continues to do a better job of being what it sets out to be, and the continuing growth in quality of the content and discussions - and in its traffic[1] - is a testament to that. [1] http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/ycombinator.com http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/ycombinator.com
      - npiazza83 10y ago
        I and others who've frequented HN for many years find that the quality of the content has gone down, and the moderation of discussions has become more haphazard and arbitrary as a response to the influx of BS.
        tomhoward 10y ago
        Your appeals might have more impact if you were commenting from an account that had existed for more than 11 days - so we could actually see your comments and submissions history - and if your accusations at dang didn't rely so heavily on exaggerations or falsehoods. The people who are verifiable as having long and distinguished histories contributing to this this community [1] all seem to be appreciative and supportive of dang's work and happy with the site's evolution. Of course they don't always agree with everything he does, but when they have an objection, they are civil, constructive, and truthful in discussing it. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders

dang 10y ago

> Mods frequently remove posts that are inflamatory, political, "unsubstantive", That's completely untrue. We reply to such comments asking people not to post those things. We sometimes detach such comments from their parents and mark them off-topic (which lowers them on the page). But removing them is precisely what we don't do. Where these notions come from is beyond me. You might think that if you scrupulously followed a policy of not doing X, people wouldn't blithely claim that X is your policy. Nope, not so.

npiazza83 10y ago
Detaching a post from its parent and marking it as off-topic seems to me a pretty pusillanimous semantic difference to outright deletion. Context is key to comprehension. My notion comes from a direct quote from you, dang. Our discussion on the subject several days ago. I don't mean to impugn you or the moderation of HN in general. I'll just re-iterate what I said then: I understand what you want but I find it sterile and incompatible with my personal values as should others and I encourage you to re-examine the goals you have for discussion on the site.
- sillysaurus3 10y ago
  It's necessary to detach off-topic threads of discussion. The site was much worse when that wasn't the policy.
aphextron 10y ago
Hacker News is not the place to discuss politics. Take it to Reddit.
- npiazza83 10y ago
  Sure, that's why there are daily front page articles here on Edward Snowden, the 2016 election, TTIP, Google and other's involvement in the Obama administration and the pentagon, the Coup in Turkey... You know what, let's just look at the front page right now... Kind of a slow news day. Let's take a look. Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London - Housing and Social Safety Net Ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker - Nuclear Proliferation and Arms treaties FDA Orders Antibacterials Removed from Consumer Soaps - Federal Regulation Mojave Desert solar plant kills 6,000 birds a year - Renewable Energy Initiatives and Climate Change Republic – Now everyone can invest in startups - SEC and federal banking regulation The National Economic Implications of a Taco Truck on Every Corner - Food safety and small business Canadian surgeons urge people to throw out bristle BBQ brushes - health and safety regulations
  - tomhoward 10y ago
    Those are blatant mischaracterizations of the articles, and your assertion in the first paragraph is highly inaccurate. I and others who've frequented HN for many years find that the quality of content and discussions has only improved through dang's moderation policies. It may not be for you - that's OK, it can't be for everyone. But HN continues to do a better job of being what it sets out to be, and the continuing growth in quality of the content and discussions - and in its traffic[1] - is a testament to that. [1] http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/ycombinator.com http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/ycombinator.com
    - npiazza83 10y ago
      I and others who've frequented HN for many years find that the quality of the content has gone down, and the moderation of discussions has become more haphazard and arbitrary as a response to the influx of BS.
      - tomhoward 10y ago
        Your appeals might have more impact if you were commenting from an account that had existed for more than 11 days - so we could actually see your comments and submissions history - and if your accusations at dang didn't rely so heavily on exaggerations or falsehoods. The people who are verifiable as having long and distinguished histories contributing to this this community [1] all seem to be appreciative and supportive of dang's work and happy with the site's evolution. Of course they don't always agree with everything he does, but when they have an objection, they are civil, constructive, and truthful in discussing it. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders