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while I appreciate who you are, I've also been on this site almost since the very beginning. I almost never comment, and didn't start commenting for literally

while I appreciate who you are, I've also been on this site almost since the very beginning. I almost never comment, and didn't start commenting for literally years because of the quite obvious political/economic biases of the main contributors, which has seemed in the long run to have held rather steady. There are outliers, of course, but I'd be willing to bet that the proportion of highest voted commenters identifying as pro-labor, let alone critical or hostile to capital, is going to be vanishingly small. especially given that it was originally called Startup News (or something along those lines). Grahams politics are also well known, and I've actually asked him, myself, directly, about them at a well known conference. I'm also a little weirded out that someone who seems as scientifically/mathematically literate as you would link to a couple of comments as if the story of HNs political biases would be summed up or even broadly illuminated that way. Again, I know who you are, I know what a pain in the ass the work you do here is, I just think that maybe you're a bit too close to the sun to see this one. My 2 cents.

arethuza 9y ago
I'm not from the US and I'm fairly left wing by HN standards (although I did co-found a VC backed startup - although quite a long time ago) and I'd have to agree with dang on this one - I don't really see any great consistency of political views on HN. There are also quite a lot of comments and articles pointing out the negatives of working at startups and the risks of working with VCs - while I'd agree they are in the minority I don't think comments that are "hostile to capital" are necessarily shouted down.
tptacek 9y ago
I'm _the_ highest voted commenter on the site, by a weird and embarrassing margin, and I'm pro-labor (though not anti-capital).
- idlewords 9y ago
  First against the wall! The Revolution will be sorting by HN karma.
- dtornabene 9y ago
  which is not by itself indicative of anything other than regard for your opinions on security? Really man? I get that you want to go to bat for dang here, but way to sidestep my point, I said quote "the proportion of the highest voted commentors that are pro labor or hostile to capital will be vanishingly small." There's a fair amount of semantics around what that could mean in practice, but one person, who themselves complains about HN social/political biases on twitter on the regular does not a majority make. edit: not to mention I noted in my post to dang that there will be outliers, which, again, you clearly are at an internet forum originally and still largely dedicated to startups, a demographic slice not exactly well known for their love of labor rights.
wglb 9y ago
> let alone critical or hostile to capital, is going to be vanishingly small This is nowhere near true.

arethuza 9y ago

I'm not from the US and I'm fairly left wing by HN standards (although I did co-found a VC backed startup - although quite a long time ago) and I'd have to agree with dang on this one - I don't really see any great consistency of political views on HN. There are also quite a lot of comments and articles pointing out the negatives of working at startups and the risks of working with VCs - while I'd agree they are in the minority I don't think comments that are "hostile to capital" are necessarily shouted down.

tptacek 9y ago

I'm _the_ highest voted commenter on the site, by a weird and embarrassing margin, and I'm pro-labor (though not anti-capital).

idlewords 9y ago
First against the wall! The Revolution will be sorting by HN karma.
dtornabene 9y ago
which is not by itself indicative of anything other than regard for your opinions on security? Really man? I get that you want to go to bat for dang here, but way to sidestep my point, I said quote "the proportion of the highest voted commentors that are pro labor or hostile to capital will be vanishingly small." There's a fair amount of semantics around what that could mean in practice, but one person, who themselves complains about HN social/political biases on twitter on the regular does not a majority make. edit: not to mention I noted in my post to dang that there will be outliers, which, again, you clearly are at an internet forum originally and still largely dedicated to startups, a demographic slice not exactly well known for their love of labor rights.

wglb 9y ago

> let alone critical or hostile to capital, is going to be vanishingly small This is nowhere near true.