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Yes climate change is political, but would the comment section to a climate change article on this site be full of the types of comments we see in here? Would i

by novia 8y ago

Yes climate change is political, but would the comment section to a climate change article on this site be full of the types of comments we see in here? Would it be an actually divisive topic for the users of this site? What I love about Hacker News (usually) is the lack of flame-wars. I know they exist, but they get hidden very quickly. After reading the article in full, and finding it sparse in actual data, I decided it would most likely generate the sort of discussion that does not belong on the site. Edit to add: If it is merely the "population dynamics and sexual activity statistics" that we should be interested in, why not link directly to the study instead of this meandering commentary on it?

anonytrary 8y ago
This[0] and this[1] are previous discussions on HN about climate change, with plenty of trolls. Just because something gets trolls, doesn't mean the whole thing should be destroyed or censored. Look at all of the other great discussion in those threads (and this one). If you get rid of every thread that is a potential double-edged sword, then you will eventually find yourself browsing an empty forum. There is no such thing as a perfect safe-space for discussion, and places that claim to be are typically void of interesting discourse. > I decided it would most likely generate the sort of discussion that does not belong on the site. The current thread as well as the two linked threads have plenty of positive discussion. Again, every topic is a double-edged sword. You're going to get people who agree and disagree, people who are serious and others who are trolls. That doesn't mean threads should be completely destroyed. The best course of action here is to flag the offending comments, rather than the entire thread. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17698237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17698237 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18332012 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18332012
- novia 8y ago
  > The best course of action here is to flag the offending comments, rather than the entire thread. The best course of action for my mental well-being is to flag the whole thread and move on without reading the comments. Unfortunately I'm already in here, so I am flagging the particularly egregious comments, as well as vouching for the dead comments that I think were unjustly buried. > Just because something gets trolls, doesn't mean the whole thing should be destroyed or censored. One flag doesn't destroy an entire thread. It's a numbers game and I'm adding my vote to the pile. If the thread dies, people who think it is valuable can vouch for it.
  - anonytrary 8y ago
    > The best course of action for my mental well-being is to flag the whole thread and move on without reading the comments. Guidelines: > Please don't complain that a submission is inappropriate. If a story is spam or off-topic, flag it. Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead. If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did. Your comments here suggest that you have a personal problem with the article. Articles should not be flagged for how their words and numbers make us feel, they should be flagged if they are off-topic, spam, or not intellectually stimulating. This article abides by the rules and thus should not have been flagged by a neutral actor.
    - novia 8y ago
      > If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did. Oops! I'll keep this in mind for the future. But the cat's out of the bag already here so... > Articles should not be flagged for how their words and numbers make us feel, they should be flagged if they are off-topic, spam, or not intellectually stimulating. I maintain that I am flagging this because I consider it off-topic and not intellectually stimulating.
      - anonytrary 8y ago
        > I maintain that I am flagging this because I consider it off-topic and not intellectually stimulating. The discussion happening in this thread does not support your conclusions. As per the HN guidelines: > Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. There is an interesting phenomenon here -- that sex rates are apparently changing very significantly. Whether or not you personally were inspired the post, it is clear that this has provoked plenty of intellectually stimulating discussion here. If the flag button is abused, it makes the moderator's jobs harder. To properly flag posts, a good rule of thumb is to ask these questions before flagging a post: 1. Are people having civil discussions and learning new points of view in a constructive manner? Whether or not you are interested or able to participate in the discussions has no bearing on the answer to this question. 2. If the post isn't about computers/technology, is there something academic about the post? Is there data to discuss, its implications, etc.? If you can answer "yes" to these questions, you probably shouldn't be flagging the post.

by novia 8y ago

anonytrary 8y ago

This[0] and this[1] are previous discussions on HN about climate change, with plenty of trolls. Just because something gets trolls, doesn't mean the whole thing should be destroyed or censored. Look at all of the other great discussion in those threads (and this one). If you get rid of every thread that is a potential double-edged sword, then you will eventually find yourself browsing an empty forum. There is no such thing as a perfect safe-space for discussion, and places that claim to be are typically void of interesting discourse. > I decided it would most likely generate the sort of discussion that does not belong on the site. The current thread as well as the two linked threads have plenty of positive discussion. Again, every topic is a double-edged sword. You're going to get people who agree and disagree, people who are serious and others who are trolls. That doesn't mean threads should be completely destroyed. The best course of action here is to flag the offending comments, rather than the entire thread. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17698237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17698237 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18332012 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18332012

novia 8y ago
> The best course of action here is to flag the offending comments, rather than the entire thread. The best course of action for my mental well-being is to flag the whole thread and move on without reading the comments. Unfortunately I'm already in here, so I am flagging the particularly egregious comments, as well as vouching for the dead comments that I think were unjustly buried. > Just because something gets trolls, doesn't mean the whole thing should be destroyed or censored. One flag doesn't destroy an entire thread. It's a numbers game and I'm adding my vote to the pile. If the thread dies, people who think it is valuable can vouch for it.
- anonytrary 8y ago
  > The best course of action for my mental well-being is to flag the whole thread and move on without reading the comments. Guidelines: > Please don't complain that a submission is inappropriate. If a story is spam or off-topic, flag it. Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead. If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did. Your comments here suggest that you have a personal problem with the article. Articles should not be flagged for how their words and numbers make us feel, they should be flagged if they are off-topic, spam, or not intellectually stimulating. This article abides by the rules and thus should not have been flagged by a neutral actor.
  - novia 8y ago
    > If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did. Oops! I'll keep this in mind for the future. But the cat's out of the bag already here so... > Articles should not be flagged for how their words and numbers make us feel, they should be flagged if they are off-topic, spam, or not intellectually stimulating. I maintain that I am flagging this because I consider it off-topic and not intellectually stimulating.
    - anonytrary 8y ago
      > I maintain that I am flagging this because I consider it off-topic and not intellectually stimulating. The discussion happening in this thread does not support your conclusions. As per the HN guidelines: > Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. There is an interesting phenomenon here -- that sex rates are apparently changing very significantly. Whether or not you personally were inspired the post, it is clear that this has provoked plenty of intellectually stimulating discussion here. If the flag button is abused, it makes the moderator's jobs harder. To properly flag posts, a good rule of thumb is to ask these questions before flagging a post: 1. Are people having civil discussions and learning new points of view in a constructive manner? Whether or not you are interested or able to participate in the discussions has no bearing on the answer to this question. 2. If the post isn't about computers/technology, is there something academic about the post? Is there data to discuss, its implications, etc.? If you can answer "yes" to these questions, you probably shouldn't be flagging the post.