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> I would have left long ago if flagging had continued to be used to kill topics. Flagging is frequently used to kill topics still. Climate change articles are

> I would have left long ago if flagging had continued to be used to kill topics. Flagging is frequently used to kill topics still. Climate change articles are still flagged mercilessly, before any discussion starts and without regard for the high-quality of the articles. dang as a moderator has specifically said that articles about Russia hacking elections are penalized prior to any votes or comments starting (edit: I believe this particular issue is done by the 'moderators' themselves manually or through a filter, not through user-flags. they are not just moderating discussion, they are filtering which topics you see in the first place, on their own). The discussion here is framed by people who do not want to talk about certain interesting Hacker and Startup related issues, like global climate change or the stability of democracy with technology. Flags are a common tool used by the community here to shape the discussion before it starts, hiding topics entirely from view that the community would otherwise vote and discuss.

Kye 7y ago
I would like to discuss certain intersections of politics and technology, but HN has proven time and time again to be incapable of handling them without turning into a screaming match. Such topics require heavy, active moderation in a community with such conflicting views, and that kind of moderation tends to lead to more screaming matches.
vfc1 7y ago
This is true, still today I saw a BBC article stating that July was the hottest month recorded - https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49165476?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cmj34zmwm1zt/climate-change&link_location=live-reporting-story https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49165476?intlin... A minute later I go back to the home page and it was wiped out without a single discussion comment. I don't see any reason why this type of articles should be taken down, they are scientific in nature and highly relevant. Things like climate change denial should have no place in a site like Hacker news, it's unbelievable.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- deburo 7y ago
  >If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. There's plenty of climate change reporting about the web. I just don't care to see HN lists articles that are ultra hot topics. You just get the same comments over and over again.
  - vfc1 7y ago
    I feel that a huge amount of people have still a hard time accepting that it's true, especially if doing something about it means changing something so deeply ingrained as their food habits. On the other hand, major announcements like the latest UN report frontally calling for a diet change are still allowed on HN, so there is some filtering going on - https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02409-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02409-7 Many of the same comments that we read each time is that its not clear that the weather is changing due to human action, or that its not clear if stop eating animal products would help that much, etc. which shows that a lot of people are still misinformed about the topic and in a state of denial.
- crumpets 7y ago
  Because hottest month on record isn't scientifically interesting? Yes, climate change is happening, no, we didn't forget. The article isn't even about any attempts to do something different to fix it.
dang 7y ago
Climate change is discussed a great deal on HN these days; probably more than any other topic: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=comments%3E3%20climate https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story... https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=comments%3E3%20warm https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story... https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=comments%3E3%20heat https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story... https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=comments%3E3%20hot https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story... Any topic this widespread is going to produce many copycat and follow-up articles that add no significant new information, as well as many sensationalized articles that don't provide a basis for substantive discussion. Users tend to flag those. If they didn't, climate change wouldn't simply be the most-discussed topic—it would be practically the only topic on HN. There are also cases of bad flagging, where a particularly substantive article didn't get the discussion it deserved, but these are not nearly as common as people jumping to the conclusion that a topic is being suppressed when they run across a flagged submission. Checking HN search is an easy way to vet that logic (though not as easy as not vetting it). Frequently it turns out that the story has already had significant attention. If, after checking that, you see a particularly substantive article getting flagged, you are welcome to let us know at hn@ycombinator.com. We sometimes turn off flagging in such cases. Everybody feels that the topic they consider most important is under-discussed on HN. Actually, every important topic is under-discussed on HN, because frontpage space is the scarcest resource we have: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0&query=by:dang%20scarce https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme.... There's no way around this on a site that exists for curiosity, because curiosity withers under repetition.
- wpietri 7y ago
  So pretty clearly I have wildly underestimated the amount that flagging is used to suppress stories. Is there some way for me to see which stories are getting flagged and by how much?

Kye 7y ago

I would like to discuss certain intersections of politics and technology, but HN has proven time and time again to be incapable of handling them without turning into a screaming match. Such topics require heavy, active moderation in a community with such conflicting views, and that kind of moderation tends to lead to more screaming matches.

vfc1 7y ago

This is true, still today I saw a BBC article stating that July was the hottest month recorded - https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49165476?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cmj34zmwm1zt/climate-change&link_location=live-reporting-story https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49165476?intlin... A minute later I go back to the home page and it was wiped out without a single discussion comment. I don't see any reason why this type of articles should be taken down, they are scientific in nature and highly relevant. Things like climate change denial should have no place in a site like Hacker news, it's unbelievable.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
deburo 7y ago
>If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. There's plenty of climate change reporting about the web. I just don't care to see HN lists articles that are ultra hot topics. You just get the same comments over and over again.
- vfc1 7y ago
  I feel that a huge amount of people have still a hard time accepting that it's true, especially if doing something about it means changing something so deeply ingrained as their food habits. On the other hand, major announcements like the latest UN report frontally calling for a diet change are still allowed on HN, so there is some filtering going on - https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02409-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02409-7 Many of the same comments that we read each time is that its not clear that the weather is changing due to human action, or that its not clear if stop eating animal products would help that much, etc. which shows that a lot of people are still misinformed about the topic and in a state of denial.
crumpets 7y ago
Because hottest month on record isn't scientifically interesting? Yes, climate change is happening, no, we didn't forget. The article isn't even about any attempts to do something different to fix it.

dang 7y ago

Climate change is discussed a great deal on HN these days; probably more than any other topic: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=comments%3E3%20climate https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story... https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=comments%3E3%20warm https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story... https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=comments%3E3%20heat https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story... https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=comments%3E3%20hot https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story... Any topic this widespread is going to produce many copycat and follow-up articles that add no significant new information, as well as many sensationalized articles that don't provide a basis for substantive discussion. Users tend to flag those. If they didn't, climate change wouldn't simply be the most-discussed topic—it would be practically the only topic on HN. There are also cases of bad flagging, where a particularly substantive article didn't get the discussion it deserved, but these are not nearly as common as people jumping to the conclusion that a topic is being suppressed when they run across a flagged submission. Checking HN search is an easy way to vet that logic (though not as easy as not vetting it). Frequently it turns out that the story has already had significant attention. If, after checking that, you see a particularly substantive article getting flagged, you are welcome to let us know at hn@ycombinator.com. We sometimes turn off flagging in such cases. Everybody feels that the topic they consider most important is under-discussed on HN. Actually, every important topic is under-discussed on HN, because frontpage space is the scarcest resource we have: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0&query=by:dang%20scarce https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme.... There's no way around this on a site that exists for curiosity, because curiosity withers under repetition.

wpietri 7y ago
So pretty clearly I have wildly underestimated the amount that flagging is used to suppress stories. Is there some way for me to see which stories are getting flagged and by how much?