4 ms·

Here's how it works: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22159031 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22159031 You can disagree with how it's implemented, bu

by rcfox 6y ago

Here's how it works: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22159031 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22159031 You can disagree with how it's implemented, but it's not subjective. dang does a way better job of addressing moderation issues as they're happening than anything you'll see on Reddit (besides perhaps tiny, niche subreddits.) And at least he's not surreptitiously changing people's comments. (https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/23/13739026/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-edit-comments https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/23/13739026/reddit-ceo-stev...)

nwsm 6y ago
> dang does a way better job than Reddit How is that a relevant comparison? Reddit is orders of magnitude larger (looks to be around 100 times more active users) and allows users to create public and private subreddits that can easily become echo chambers. HN moderation is not even in the same ballpark as what Reddit deals with. To be clear I'm not defending Reddit or even saying they do a good job; I'm just saying the comparison is not fair or useful.
- deleted 6y ago
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Nacdor 6y ago
I'm not just talking about the "flame-war detection", although that system alone is extremely crude an ineffective (in my opinion). There are lots of other moderation features -- e.g. shadow bans and automatic vote penalties -- that are completely opaque but turn HN into a strong echo chamber. I also disagree with your point about Reddit. At least on Reddit you can easily track what was removed (there are entire subreddits dedicated to tracking what's been removed by moderators) and many subreddits provide explanations of why content was removed.
- floren 6y ago
  > There are lots of other moderation features -- e.g. shadow bans and automatic vote penalties -- that are completely opaque but turn HN into a strong echo chamber. Every time I click "vouch" I wonder if a counter is being incremented on my account, or if a record of things I've vouched is being kept for moderator perusal. A chilling effect which certainly exists outside of HN, of course.
  - krapp 6y ago
    >Every time I click "vouch" I wonder if a counter is being incremented on my account, or if a record of things I've vouched is being kept for moderator perusal. There is. I've lost vouching privileges after the mods disagreed with my decisions. They don't tell you, either, you'll just notice one day that it no longer seems to work.
saagarjha 6y ago
Not surreptitiously (at least to my knowledge, but of course that would be an oxymoron anyways), but the moderators do have the ability to edit comments and do so on occasion.

by rcfox 6y ago

nwsm 6y ago

> dang does a way better job than Reddit How is that a relevant comparison? Reddit is orders of magnitude larger (looks to be around 100 times more active users) and allows users to create public and private subreddits that can easily become echo chambers. HN moderation is not even in the same ballpark as what Reddit deals with. To be clear I'm not defending Reddit or even saying they do a good job; I'm just saying the comparison is not fair or useful.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

Nacdor 6y ago

I'm not just talking about the "flame-war detection", although that system alone is extremely crude an ineffective (in my opinion). There are lots of other moderation features -- e.g. shadow bans and automatic vote penalties -- that are completely opaque but turn HN into a strong echo chamber. I also disagree with your point about Reddit. At least on Reddit you can easily track what was removed (there are entire subreddits dedicated to tracking what's been removed by moderators) and many subreddits provide explanations of why content was removed.

floren 6y ago
> There are lots of other moderation features -- e.g. shadow bans and automatic vote penalties -- that are completely opaque but turn HN into a strong echo chamber. Every time I click "vouch" I wonder if a counter is being incremented on my account, or if a record of things I've vouched is being kept for moderator perusal. A chilling effect which certainly exists outside of HN, of course.
- krapp 6y ago
  >Every time I click "vouch" I wonder if a counter is being incremented on my account, or if a record of things I've vouched is being kept for moderator perusal. There is. I've lost vouching privileges after the mods disagreed with my decisions. They don't tell you, either, you'll just notice one day that it no longer seems to work.

saagarjha 6y ago

Not surreptitiously (at least to my knowledge, but of course that would be an oxymoron anyways), but the moderators do have the ability to edit comments and do so on occasion.