3 ms·

You're right.

dang 7y ago
> Yeah. You're totally right, anything outside of US doesn't matter :) I was just in the process of replying to your comment and question when you replaced it with that snarky one-liner. HN is a highly international community. Plenty of international stories appear here. Nor does HN being an English-language site imply any disrespect for other languages, including the wonderful German language. Quite the contrary. In this case the language issue is secondary anyhow, since "politician is working on drafting a bill" is an even less substantive story than "politician introduces bill", which is one of the classics of off-topicness for HN (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20bills&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...). We would have demoted the story regardless of the language it was written in. In cases like this, we've learned that there's no harm in waiting for a story to actually become real before having a thread about it. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20%22harm%20in%20waiting%22&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
  - dang 7y ago
    If you're asking why we downweighted the submission, moderators routinely do that on HN when a story doesn't fit the site guidelines, isn't substantive enough, is overly sensational, and so on. If we didn't, HN's front page would consist of the same few hot topics and flamewars repeated over and over. Maintaining a site for intellectual curiosity requires active pruning. Sure, we've routinely downweighted tons of election campaign stories, which is what most policy proposals from candidates are. That includes Elizabeth's among many others. I could see making an exception for proposals that come with detailed arguments and make a genuinely new contribution to debate on something that's on topic here. But most aren't anything like that, they're just attempts to gain attention for a candidate.
    - lima 7y ago
      I just spent almost an hour reading the drafts in question and converting documents back and forth to provide an English translation and a summary of what exactly the proposed changes are in a comment below, and this makes me a bit sad since it means the effort was mostly wasted. This is not an election story or a random politician drafting a bill, but a draft by the relevant ministry of the elected government in Germany. It raises important questions about the relationship between large multinational companies and law enforcement in a country other than the US, with quite a bit of nuance and potential for in-depth discussion.
      - vsadu 7y ago
        If you feel strongly about this issue and you think it's worth being debated then the best thing you can do is to write an in-depth analysis in your personal blog and then submit the link
      - dang 7y ago
        I hear you and am sorry about the wasted effort. vsadu's advice sounds good.
- LargoLasskhyfv 7y ago
  In spite of the draft status this already makes some waves in the german mainstream press, not only some computer magazine. [1] https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/digitec/hassrede-bundesregierung-will-an-e-mail-passwoerter-16535665.html https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/digitec/hassrede-bund... Though the last paragraph cites a politcian saying something along the lines of this can't stand as it is and needs further discussion and changes, otherwise it would be contested in germanys highest court and canceled there. edit: 2nd link [2] https://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/hetze-und-drohungen-haertere-strafen--gesetzentwurf-gegen-hass-im-netz-9047530.html https://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/hetze-und-drohungen... edit: 3rd link [3] https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/facebook-twitter-co-millionen-bussgeld-wenn-drohungen-ignoriert-werden-a-1301168.html https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/facebook-twitter-co-mill...

You're right.

dang 7y ago

> Yeah. You're totally right, anything outside of US doesn't matter :) I was just in the process of replying to your comment and question when you replaced it with that snarky one-liner. HN is a highly international community. Plenty of international stories appear here. Nor does HN being an English-language site imply any disrespect for other languages, including the wonderful German language. Quite the contrary. In this case the language issue is secondary anyhow, since "politician is working on drafting a bill" is an even less substantive story than "politician introduces bill", which is one of the classics of off-topicness for HN (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20bills&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...). We would have demoted the story regardless of the language it was written in. In cases like this, we've learned that there's no harm in waiting for a story to actually become real before having a thread about it. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20%22harm%20in%20waiting%22&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
- dang 7y ago
  If you're asking why we downweighted the submission, moderators routinely do that on HN when a story doesn't fit the site guidelines, isn't substantive enough, is overly sensational, and so on. If we didn't, HN's front page would consist of the same few hot topics and flamewars repeated over and over. Maintaining a site for intellectual curiosity requires active pruning. Sure, we've routinely downweighted tons of election campaign stories, which is what most policy proposals from candidates are. That includes Elizabeth's among many others. I could see making an exception for proposals that come with detailed arguments and make a genuinely new contribution to debate on something that's on topic here. But most aren't anything like that, they're just attempts to gain attention for a candidate.
  - lima 7y ago
    I just spent almost an hour reading the drafts in question and converting documents back and forth to provide an English translation and a summary of what exactly the proposed changes are in a comment below, and this makes me a bit sad since it means the effort was mostly wasted. This is not an election story or a random politician drafting a bill, but a draft by the relevant ministry of the elected government in Germany. It raises important questions about the relationship between large multinational companies and law enforcement in a country other than the US, with quite a bit of nuance and potential for in-depth discussion.
    - vsadu 7y ago
      If you feel strongly about this issue and you think it's worth being debated then the best thing you can do is to write an in-depth analysis in your personal blog and then submit the link
    - dang 7y ago
      I hear you and am sorry about the wasted effort. vsadu's advice sounds good.
LargoLasskhyfv 7y ago
In spite of the draft status this already makes some waves in the german mainstream press, not only some computer magazine. [1] https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/digitec/hassrede-bundesregierung-will-an-e-mail-passwoerter-16535665.html https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/digitec/hassrede-bund... Though the last paragraph cites a politcian saying something along the lines of this can't stand as it is and needs further discussion and changes, otherwise it would be contested in germanys highest court and canceled there. edit: 2nd link [2] https://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/hetze-und-drohungen-haertere-strafen--gesetzentwurf-gegen-hass-im-netz-9047530.html https://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/hetze-und-drohungen... edit: 3rd link [3] https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/facebook-twitter-co-millionen-bussgeld-wenn-drohungen-ignoriert-werden-a-1301168.html https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/facebook-twitter-co-mill...