4 ms·

I don't know how/why it happened, but most users here are left-wing now. This means that, if you post a right-wing point of view, you are likely to attract lots

by ahbyb 7y ago

I don't know how/why it happened, but most users here are left-wing now. This means that, if you post a right-wing point of view, you are likely to attract lots of responses. Posts that attract lots of responses are always seen as flamebait, and flamebait is flagged. Many flags will get you labelled as a troll and banned. Whether this is on purpose (a system used by the mods to keep the site left-wing) or not (just a consequence of the times we live in + a desire by the mods not to have flames all day) is another matter.

igorkraw 7y ago
Can you mail me a full version of what you are trying to say here please? As a European, HN seems pretty right wing to me, so if you have examples of statements which you feel get flagged/banned while not deserving so in a noncensored setting (my mail which can be found in my profile) I'd be grateful
- ahbyb 7y ago
  Forgive me but I don't feel like writing too much about this subject, which is getting pretty old and tiring. So I'll type it here even if I get flagged. The political compass can be separated in economical and social issues. Economically, HN is right-wing, as you say. It's full of libertarians. But socially, it's strictly left-wing. Things that get you flagged? Men and women are not the same, we should not turn the world around to appease to non-heterosexuals, perhaps people of different races/ethnic backgrounds/religions are fundamentally different (for better or for worse), all humans aren't worth the same, countries should have the right to manage themselves in any way they want without having human rights shoved into them by the west... Stuff like that cannot be discussed here. And as I said, I don't know if it's a conscious effort by the mods, or those topics only incite flames so they have to be shut down. What I do know is that just yesterday we got https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21365411 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21365411 on the front page (which is, quite literally, left-wing political propaganda) but something that criticised those points would be flagged in minutes.
  - thinkingemote 7y ago
    You are a very new user and may not know how the site works with regards to downvoting and karma. There are links to follow but the short faq is that regular users get access to downvotes and flags, and thus older users often will flag kill topics that they think will only be a flame war. That, and there are automated things which identify when a topic becomes flame
    - ahbyb 7y ago
      I am not a very new user, in fact by looking at your profile I have been here for much longer than you. Older/active users are predominantly left-wing and use their flag power to flag right-wing points of view, because they deem them as trolling (charitable point of view) or because they want to silence them (uncharitable point of view). Then, mods come and ban those who amass many flags because someone who's got many flags is irredeemably a troll.
      - thinkingemote 7y ago
        I give you 3/10 as your profile say it was created 17 days ago and you made me look and reply. Nice run though! Very skillful
        banmeagaindan2 7y ago
        Look at yummyfajitas.
        dang 7y ago
        That's something of a special case in a lot of ways. And not someone we banned for political reasons. (Edit: I should have said: not someone we moderated for political reasons. We didn't ban him.)
      - dang 7y ago
        Not irredeemably!
- banmeagaindan2 7y ago
  What you're asking for is easy to test. I can send you a list later. You probably won't like some of the list - this will be you roleplaying as a right winger for experiment. Europeans - I am one so I know - if they are Anglos - are heavily influenced by the American information-sphere. It is normal for a European to listen to NPR or watch CNN and think they're hearing neutrality because there's context in American politics we're not aware of.
banmeagaindan2 7y ago
The HN forum's population is now very different to what it was at the start. I'm convinced people like Paul Graham would get crucified. There is a conformity - I don't want to label it leftist - it leans there at the moment but it will go the other way in future. It is not anybody in Silicon Valley's job to moderate the population's speech - that our governments did not produce a public space for the online world was a strategic error. I suppose we could just take the China route but no amount of machine learning is going to stop Americans telling the other side to fuck off - that is a feature and not a bug.

by ahbyb 7y ago

igorkraw 7y ago

Can you mail me a full version of what you are trying to say here please? As a European, HN seems pretty right wing to me, so if you have examples of statements which you feel get flagged/banned while not deserving so in a noncensored setting (my mail which can be found in my profile) I'd be grateful

ahbyb 7y ago
Forgive me but I don't feel like writing too much about this subject, which is getting pretty old and tiring. So I'll type it here even if I get flagged. The political compass can be separated in economical and social issues. Economically, HN is right-wing, as you say. It's full of libertarians. But socially, it's strictly left-wing. Things that get you flagged? Men and women are not the same, we should not turn the world around to appease to non-heterosexuals, perhaps people of different races/ethnic backgrounds/religions are fundamentally different (for better or for worse), all humans aren't worth the same, countries should have the right to manage themselves in any way they want without having human rights shoved into them by the west... Stuff like that cannot be discussed here. And as I said, I don't know if it's a conscious effort by the mods, or those topics only incite flames so they have to be shut down. What I do know is that just yesterday we got https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21365411 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21365411 on the front page (which is, quite literally, left-wing political propaganda) but something that criticised those points would be flagged in minutes.
- thinkingemote 7y ago
  You are a very new user and may not know how the site works with regards to downvoting and karma. There are links to follow but the short faq is that regular users get access to downvotes and flags, and thus older users often will flag kill topics that they think will only be a flame war. That, and there are automated things which identify when a topic becomes flame
  - ahbyb 7y ago
    I am not a very new user, in fact by looking at your profile I have been here for much longer than you. Older/active users are predominantly left-wing and use their flag power to flag right-wing points of view, because they deem them as trolling (charitable point of view) or because they want to silence them (uncharitable point of view). Then, mods come and ban those who amass many flags because someone who's got many flags is irredeemably a troll.
    - thinkingemote 7y ago
      I give you 3/10 as your profile say it was created 17 days ago and you made me look and reply. Nice run though! Very skillful
      - banmeagaindan2 7y ago
        Look at yummyfajitas.
        dang 7y ago
        That's something of a special case in a lot of ways. And not someone we banned for political reasons. (Edit: I should have said: not someone we moderated for political reasons. We didn't ban him.)
    - dang 7y ago
      Not irredeemably!
banmeagaindan2 7y ago
What you're asking for is easy to test. I can send you a list later. You probably won't like some of the list - this will be you roleplaying as a right winger for experiment. Europeans - I am one so I know - if they are Anglos - are heavily influenced by the American information-sphere. It is normal for a European to listen to NPR or watch CNN and think they're hearing neutrality because there's context in American politics we're not aware of.

banmeagaindan2 7y ago

The HN forum's population is now very different to what it was at the start. I'm convinced people like Paul Graham would get crucified. There is a conformity - I don't want to label it leftist - it leans there at the moment but it will go the other way in future. It is not anybody in Silicon Valley's job to moderate the population's speech - that our governments did not produce a public space for the online world was a strategic error. I suppose we could just take the China route but no amount of machine learning is going to stop Americans telling the other side to fuck off - that is a feature and not a bug.