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Why anything criticizing Musk is always flagged?
by dsr12 8y ago
Why anything criticizing Musk is always flagged?
- GW150914 8y agoTwo reasons I think. First, understandably by now the moderators must dread these kinds of submissions, given that they inevitably evolve along the same acrimonious lines. Supporting this submission by pinning it or unflagging it is sort of making a rod for their own back. Second, some people are fanatically pro-Musk and they downvote or flag without second thought. I don’t think it’s coordinated, I just think the result is rapid downvoting and mass flagging. My advice is to email them if you feel strongly about this or other articles, and ask them to pin it or unflagging it, it understand if they err on the side of protecting their sanity rather than the submission.
- imustbeevil 8y agoI'm someone who appreciates technology, so I appreciate the technology that has been produced by Elon Musk's companies. I would flag a story like this because it has nothing to do with technology. I'm not particularly interested in "famous person does drugs and goes crazy", because that's a boring story.
- smt88 8y agoIt may not relate to technology, but it does relate to the leadership of a closely-watched tech company. What if this were Steve Jobs? I doubt we'd flag it.
- tomhoward 8y agoIf it were Steve Jobs doing the same things he'd been doing for months or years, it'd probably be treated just the same, because it doesn't qualify as content that "gratifies one's intellectual curiosity". To me, these stories about Musk fall in the same bucket as those described thus: "Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon.". There's nothing interesting or new here, and the repetitive discussions confirm that.
- danso 8y agoBut Elon Musk is CEO of his own companies, and therefore his public behavior and positions are relevant to the missions and success of his companies.
- JetSetWilly 8y agoIt is quite strange. Gossip about how Steve Jobs behaved in private is routinely upvoted, despite being of approximately the same interest and value as stores about musk's public conduct - however the latter is routinely flagged. I guess if it was a story about how insightful he is instead, then it would be on the front page.
- fzeroracer 8y agoSimply put, it's increasingly harder for anyone to actually defend Musk. Over the past few years there's been quite a few threads on HN praising Musk, worshiping the ground he walks upon, making him into a Tech Savior and my guess is that when he says something indefensible like this, the best you can do is flag and move on. Which, well, it's probably for the best of HN in either case. There's really not much else to say on this topic, although I hope that this whole nonsense he keeps perpetuating helps cull the cult surrounding him here. It's especially interesting because a few months ago I argued with someone that Musk will accept responsibility when he does something bad or says something stupid. And yet here we are.