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YC: it's bullshit that you manually pushed this post back to the top of the site after it started dropping down the front page (due to having way more comments

YC: it's bullshit that you manually pushed this post back to the top of the site after it started dropping down the front page (due to having way more comments than points). It's fine if you're going to treat posts about YC companies as ads that are immune from voting and other site mechanics, but then you need to label them as ads.

dang 8y ago
I understand the concern, but we don't push YC stories to the top or anything like that. This one set off the flamewar detector, a.k.a. the overheated discussion detector. That triggers an email to moderators, who (assuming they're not all sleeping) review the thread. When it isn't a flamewar, we take the penalty off. It's standard HN moderation, and the overwhelmingly majority of these cases, well over 95% I'm sure, have nothing to do with YC. The reason we added that review step is that there were lots of complaints about stories getting demoted when they shouldn't. It's hard for software to distinguish between a genuine flamewar and a good vigorous discussion, so we added a human review.
tomcam 8y ago
YC pays for this site. Why on earth shouldn’t they be able to re-position posts manually? As near as I can tell they have at least two full-time moderators who do a spectacular job, even though they don’t understand my sense of humor ;) Where do you get off on telling them what to do with their own property?
- rimliu 8y ago
  TBH, moderators do a crappy job and go on power-trips way too often.
  - tomcam 8y ago
    Listen, my sense of humor and personal politics appear to be exactly opposite of most HN readers, and of the moderators. In my view, I am frequently down voted because people don’t seem to get my sense of humor or because they tend to be precious liberal snowflakes. I view that as my problem. I am a guest here, and it’s important for me to behave according to the customs of their house. But I feel the overall product is amazingly good considering they deliver it to us at the low low price of free, and with essentially no advertising distractions. That’s a pretty precious thing in my humble opinion.

dang 8y ago

I understand the concern, but we don't push YC stories to the top or anything like that. This one set off the flamewar detector, a.k.a. the overheated discussion detector. That triggers an email to moderators, who (assuming they're not all sleeping) review the thread. When it isn't a flamewar, we take the penalty off. It's standard HN moderation, and the overwhelmingly majority of these cases, well over 95% I'm sure, have nothing to do with YC. The reason we added that review step is that there were lots of complaints about stories getting demoted when they shouldn't. It's hard for software to distinguish between a genuine flamewar and a good vigorous discussion, so we added a human review.

tomcam 8y ago

YC pays for this site. Why on earth shouldn’t they be able to re-position posts manually? As near as I can tell they have at least two full-time moderators who do a spectacular job, even though they don’t understand my sense of humor ;) Where do you get off on telling them what to do with their own property?

rimliu 8y ago
TBH, moderators do a crappy job and go on power-trips way too often.
- tomcam 8y ago
  Listen, my sense of humor and personal politics appear to be exactly opposite of most HN readers, and of the moderators. In my view, I am frequently down voted because people don’t seem to get my sense of humor or because they tend to be precious liberal snowflakes. I view that as my problem. I am a guest here, and it’s important for me to behave according to the customs of their house. But I feel the overall product is amazingly good considering they deliver it to us at the low low price of free, and with essentially no advertising distractions. That’s a pretty precious thing in my humble opinion.