I think it's hard to talk about solutions when we don't have a solid definition of the problem. To define the problem well, I think access to the news.YC data w

I think it's hard to talk about solutions when we don't have a solid definition of the problem. To define the problem well, I think access to the news.YC data would be very helpful. So a meta-idea would be to open the news.YC database of users, submissions, posts, and ratings. That way, we can look for specific changes in voting/submission patterns. In particular, I'd like to know: - how post length has changed over time - how strong the correlation between post length and score is - if participation has dropped among those who used to contribute the most valuable comments - the average comment score over time I don't see any downsides - news.YC isn't looking for profit, or to be acquired, so there doesn't see to be much use in protecting the data... How about it, Paul?