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I see you replying to these threads sometimes, and you usually say "we" did thing. Are these decisions actually being made by a team and you the (possibly self

I see you replying to these threads sometimes, and you usually say "we" did thing. Are these decisions actually being made by a team and you the (possibly self selected) community lead? Or are you just saying "we" as in "I, someone whose actions represent the desires of the mod team, did thing"? Just curious, I've never had a problem with your changes.

paul7986 7y ago
I know I was told I can no longer talk negatively about Google on Hacker News nor point to a popular HN thread that puts Google in a bad light. I told my story for awhile on HN and lo and behold after doing so another student/inventor told a similar story with evidence of Google getting caught doing X. I do wonder who is making up these rules and why do they care what I say about Google? If I talk frequently about the same Yahoo story one that is neutral and I am neutral are you going to tell me to stop/say that is spam too?
- chipperyman573 7y ago
  I think you may have replied to the wrong comment friend :)
  - paul7986 7y ago
    Hmmm i was following your question about who makes the rules up. I was shocked to hear and be told I can no longer talk negatively about Google on Hacker News and provide my reason why if asked.
    - kbenson 7y ago
      > I was shocked to hear and be told I can no longer talk negatively about Google on Hacker News and provide my reason why if asked. Because it's baiting people into allowing you to grind your axe? I just looked up what you are referring to, and while like the mods I agree there's likely something to your story, that doesn't mean it needs to be injected into every conversation, nor that you can be excused for saying "they are pigs" with regard to Google. The job of the mods is to provide a civil place for discourse that people enjoy and find benefit in participating in. If they think you repeatedly bringing up something that you've already expressed on multiple occasions is impeding those goals, it's their job to take action. The fact that you've started the same behavior over their actions to correct your prior behavior (note how the person you replied to thought you accidentally replied to the wrong person?) is evidence that you didn't understand what they tried to express initially, or possibly don't care. The solution to this is simple, stay on topic, or at least make sure your tangents have a reason. A discussion about Google wrongdoing, or poor experiences, or even weird interview problems would be a good place to bring out your Google grievances. A discussion about who the moderators are and how they come to consensus for purely educational reasons is not an entirely appropriate forum to air your grievances about past moderator decisions, as it's a large shift in tone, and that's ignoring its tendency to derail any conversation it happens in. If your message has merit, it will be better received when it's in the right context. In the wrong context, it's likely to be ignored, and possibly even negatively received, as you've seen.
- dimator 7y ago
  It's hard to believe that. The large majority of commentary here is negative towards Google, and in fact most of the big guys. Are you saying you got a private message about this?
  - paul7986 7y ago
    Yes, dang has told me I can not speak negatively about Google and point to my personal reasons why. Nor point to a popular HN thread that clearly/flat out shows Google getting caught doing a bad thing.
    - dang 7y ago
      That's not what I told you (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21332308 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21332308). The issue is repeating the same thing over and over at any mention of a triggering topic, or even (as in this thread) with no mention of it. Repetition spoils curiosity. When users repeat the same thing so often that it starts to sound like an idée fixe, other users get upset and call it spamming, and eventually we have to ask the person to just avoid that topic. Google isn't the issue; there's plenty of criticism of Google on HN, as of every other big tech co.
      - paul7986 7y ago
        An obsession ... no ... where its relevant I have spoken about it. Like if I say I loathe Google and then asked why I provided the reason. When ATAP released some new tech I pondered X. All done in the last two to three weeks. Further, everything else I commented on in the last two to three weeks had nothing to do with X. Since our last exchange I haven't posted anything about it or had planned to. Here in this hidden thread I saw another member pondered something I did after our last exchange. I fully didnt understand why anyone would care that much about what I have to say about Google or why I loathe Google to the point of being told no more. Overall I still dont fully understand it, but will refrain from talking negatively about Google (unless extremely relevant or not say why) as it leads me to point to a reason that is upsetting to various HN members(whoever they may be).
dang 7y ago
Sometimes it's something another moderator did and I'm just reporting it; sometimes it's something I did qua moderator, in which case I tend to say "we" because it's a team action either way.

paul7986 7y ago

I know I was told I can no longer talk negatively about Google on Hacker News nor point to a popular HN thread that puts Google in a bad light. I told my story for awhile on HN and lo and behold after doing so another student/inventor told a similar story with evidence of Google getting caught doing X. I do wonder who is making up these rules and why do they care what I say about Google? If I talk frequently about the same Yahoo story one that is neutral and I am neutral are you going to tell me to stop/say that is spam too?

chipperyman573 7y ago
I think you may have replied to the wrong comment friend :)
- paul7986 7y ago
  Hmmm i was following your question about who makes the rules up. I was shocked to hear and be told I can no longer talk negatively about Google on Hacker News and provide my reason why if asked.
  - kbenson 7y ago
    > I was shocked to hear and be told I can no longer talk negatively about Google on Hacker News and provide my reason why if asked. Because it's baiting people into allowing you to grind your axe? I just looked up what you are referring to, and while like the mods I agree there's likely something to your story, that doesn't mean it needs to be injected into every conversation, nor that you can be excused for saying "they are pigs" with regard to Google. The job of the mods is to provide a civil place for discourse that people enjoy and find benefit in participating in. If they think you repeatedly bringing up something that you've already expressed on multiple occasions is impeding those goals, it's their job to take action. The fact that you've started the same behavior over their actions to correct your prior behavior (note how the person you replied to thought you accidentally replied to the wrong person?) is evidence that you didn't understand what they tried to express initially, or possibly don't care. The solution to this is simple, stay on topic, or at least make sure your tangents have a reason. A discussion about Google wrongdoing, or poor experiences, or even weird interview problems would be a good place to bring out your Google grievances. A discussion about who the moderators are and how they come to consensus for purely educational reasons is not an entirely appropriate forum to air your grievances about past moderator decisions, as it's a large shift in tone, and that's ignoring its tendency to derail any conversation it happens in. If your message has merit, it will be better received when it's in the right context. In the wrong context, it's likely to be ignored, and possibly even negatively received, as you've seen.
dimator 7y ago
It's hard to believe that. The large majority of commentary here is negative towards Google, and in fact most of the big guys. Are you saying you got a private message about this?
- paul7986 7y ago
  Yes, dang has told me I can not speak negatively about Google and point to my personal reasons why. Nor point to a popular HN thread that clearly/flat out shows Google getting caught doing a bad thing.
  - dang 7y ago
    That's not what I told you (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21332308 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21332308). The issue is repeating the same thing over and over at any mention of a triggering topic, or even (as in this thread) with no mention of it. Repetition spoils curiosity. When users repeat the same thing so often that it starts to sound like an idée fixe, other users get upset and call it spamming, and eventually we have to ask the person to just avoid that topic. Google isn't the issue; there's plenty of criticism of Google on HN, as of every other big tech co.
    - paul7986 7y ago
      An obsession ... no ... where its relevant I have spoken about it. Like if I say I loathe Google and then asked why I provided the reason. When ATAP released some new tech I pondered X. All done in the last two to three weeks. Further, everything else I commented on in the last two to three weeks had nothing to do with X. Since our last exchange I haven't posted anything about it or had planned to. Here in this hidden thread I saw another member pondered something I did after our last exchange. I fully didnt understand why anyone would care that much about what I have to say about Google or why I loathe Google to the point of being told no more. Overall I still dont fully understand it, but will refrain from talking negatively about Google (unless extremely relevant or not say why) as it leads me to point to a reason that is upsetting to various HN members(whoever they may be).

dang 7y ago

Sometimes it's something another moderator did and I'm just reporting it; sometimes it's something I did qua moderator, in which case I tend to say "we" because it's a team action either way.