4 ms·

In light of HN's (edit: temporary) ban on political content, I find it interesting that so many of YC's favorite books relate to: - religion (Going Clear, Zeal

by jmduke 10y ago

In light of HN's (edit: temporary) ban on political content, I find it interesting that so many of YC's favorite books relate to: - religion (Going Clear, Zealot, Finding God in the Waves) - war and oppressive policy (War in a Time of Peace, Silence Once Begun) - conservative lifestyle (Strangers in Their Own Land, Hillbilly Elegy) The first two are explicitly prohibited topics of discussion on this site, and the third is implicitly discouraged.

davidw 10y ago
Compartmentalization is the name of the game.
idlewords 10y ago
You'll notice this post got (correctly) flagged off the front page.
dang 10y ago
> In light of HN's ban on political content Please don't forget to mention this is just for one week. The intention is not "ban political content". It's to take a one-week breather from political stories that tend to result in flamewars.
- azyback 10y ago
  I'd add this permanent reputation loss to the cost of the "experiment". It's useless to say it's temporary since it could at any time be imposed again. The users clearly don't get a vote here. Transparency at HN seems like an absolute necessity at this point, if there's any desire to maintain the nature of this place. Every mod action on this very public forum should be very public on a special page people can watch. Short of something like this the conversation is just going to start slowly migrating to a new host(s). I think reddit needs the same upgrade. It's like a missing component of a 2016 social site.
tbihl 10y ago
If you want a list of fiction and textbooks, I think you could reasonably expect that this was the wrong list for you. If you want contemporary nonfiction, you will find yourself wading into something at least moderately political. We argue about them for the same reasons we read and write books about these things: they're important. Unlike this forum, a book is a really good length for experiencing those political arguments. So read a book to understand why someone would support something so backwards, to see if their thinking stands up to scrutiny, or read it just to 'know thy enemy.' But if the book is good, you'll probably get something out of it. If it's bad, it'll be slow and painful. Arguably the recommendation is twice as valuable when you disagree with the author's thesis: far better to hear only the best counterarguments to one's own perspectives, given limited time.

by jmduke 10y ago

davidw 10y ago

Compartmentalization is the name of the game.

idlewords 10y ago

You'll notice this post got (correctly) flagged off the front page.

dang 10y ago

> In light of HN's ban on political content Please don't forget to mention this is just for one week. The intention is not "ban political content". It's to take a one-week breather from political stories that tend to result in flamewars.

azyback 10y ago
I'd add this permanent reputation loss to the cost of the "experiment". It's useless to say it's temporary since it could at any time be imposed again. The users clearly don't get a vote here. Transparency at HN seems like an absolute necessity at this point, if there's any desire to maintain the nature of this place. Every mod action on this very public forum should be very public on a special page people can watch. Short of something like this the conversation is just going to start slowly migrating to a new host(s). I think reddit needs the same upgrade. It's like a missing component of a 2016 social site.

tbihl 10y ago

If you want a list of fiction and textbooks, I think you could reasonably expect that this was the wrong list for you. If you want contemporary nonfiction, you will find yourself wading into something at least moderately political. We argue about them for the same reasons we read and write books about these things: they're important. Unlike this forum, a book is a really good length for experiencing those political arguments. So read a book to understand why someone would support something so backwards, to see if their thinking stands up to scrutiny, or read it just to 'know thy enemy.' But if the book is good, you'll probably get something out of it. If it's bad, it'll be slow and painful. Arguably the recommendation is twice as valuable when you disagree with the author's thesis: far better to hear only the best counterarguments to one's own perspectives, given limited time.