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HN actively attempts to avoid flamewars and other types of unproductive discussions on the front page, by means of de-ranking articles that have a high ratio of

HN actively attempts to avoid flamewars and other types of unproductive discussions on the front page, by means of de-ranking articles that have a high ratio of comments to points. I don't know if this is the case here, but it's a possibility.

anfractuosity 9y ago
One article has 126 points to 137 comments. The other has 759 points to 279 comments. Doesn't that mean the one marked as a dupe, had less comments to points. I could be misunderstanding though, did you mean less comments to points.
- hobofan 9y ago
  The smaller thread should also be big enough to be found on the first 10 pages, but I couldn't find it there.
  - falcolas 9y ago
    Probably penalized by user flags. Unfortunate that user flags can have such an outsized impact on the discoverability of important topics.
    - walterbell 9y ago
      Is there a user flag (and vouch) for dupes?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
kristofferR 9y ago
"Flamewar" has become a weasel word for interesting discussion. It's a shame HN actively combats debate, the only discussion allowed here is about benign stuff where mostly everyone here agrees.
- williamle8300 9y ago
  Yup. The new HN admin's feefees are easily bruised...
- swsieber 9y ago
  I disagree. Past a certain size, the commentary on an article is hard to digest, and stuff gets repeated in different subthreads. It tends to become quite noisy. I can see the value in trying to steer new discussion away from the hot topic. Additionally, I think the larger the topic, the more likely it is that you have people chiming who are triggered by emotion rather than thinking out their response (see the above point about most things being already said in a large thread). Lastly, I have seen good debate on here now and again. I think distinguishing feature is that often people come to a consensus, or agree to disagree. That said, I do think that there are good debates that have been shut down here, but shouldn't have. Or rather, they are debates worth having, even if HN is the place for them (eg anything skirting the topics of religion or politics)... and it's hard to tell when debates are silently killed if you aren't paying close attention, which I don't, so it's probably a bigger problem than I think.

anfractuosity 9y ago

One article has 126 points to 137 comments. The other has 759 points to 279 comments. Doesn't that mean the one marked as a dupe, had less comments to points. I could be misunderstanding though, did you mean less comments to points.

hobofan 9y ago
The smaller thread should also be big enough to be found on the first 10 pages, but I couldn't find it there.
- falcolas 9y ago
  Probably penalized by user flags. Unfortunate that user flags can have such an outsized impact on the discoverability of important topics.
  - walterbell 9y ago
    Is there a user flag (and vouch) for dupes?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

kristofferR 9y ago

"Flamewar" has become a weasel word for interesting discussion. It's a shame HN actively combats debate, the only discussion allowed here is about benign stuff where mostly everyone here agrees.

williamle8300 9y ago
Yup. The new HN admin's feefees are easily bruised...
swsieber 9y ago
I disagree. Past a certain size, the commentary on an article is hard to digest, and stuff gets repeated in different subthreads. It tends to become quite noisy. I can see the value in trying to steer new discussion away from the hot topic. Additionally, I think the larger the topic, the more likely it is that you have people chiming who are triggered by emotion rather than thinking out their response (see the above point about most things being already said in a large thread). Lastly, I have seen good debate on here now and again. I think distinguishing feature is that often people come to a consensus, or agree to disagree. That said, I do think that there are good debates that have been shut down here, but shouldn't have. Or rather, they are debates worth having, even if HN is the place for them (eg anything skirting the topics of religion or politics)... and it's hard to tell when debates are silently killed if you aren't paying close attention, which I don't, so it's probably a bigger problem than I think.