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Agreed. Sadly, there's no defense or explanation of this, other than that moderators are arbitrarily (and in a very exclusionary way) defining what constitutes

Agreed. Sadly, there's no defense or explanation of this, other than that moderators are arbitrarily (and in a very exclusionary way) defining what constitutes "hacker culture".

krapp 6y ago
It isn't the moderators, it's the users. More people here care about Eddie Van Halen than did Kobe Bryant. I won't theorize about the rationale behind that but the decision about which celebrity obituaries stay up and which don't seems to be entirely up to the zeitgeist. If people have nostalgia for the work of someone who died, they won't flag the thread. If they don't care about the person, or other biases are at work, they will. No greater explanation is necessary than the dice roll as they do. The culture is the culture. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- cosmicac 6y ago
  Are the moderators not the ones deciding which threads get removed and which don't?
  - krapp 6y ago
    Users are the ones who flag threads, not moderators. Mods will unflag threads if they don't feel they should have been flagged or otherwise manipulate rankings but as far as I know flagging is entirely from users.
  - YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
    Not at all. Posts are removed when they're flagged by users and the mods don't seem to intervene. I wonder if they even have the power to intervene. I remember one post where dang (moderator) was basically trying to negotiate with one or two users who had flagged the thread to unflag it, after the title was changed (or maybe it was something discussed in the thread, this is a bit vague in my memorey, sorry). The post stayed flagged. Bottom line: it's not the mods, it's the users. That's HN.
- clairity 6y ago
  it's hypocritical and worth calling out for discussion, not justifying with a shrug. if a particular user doesn't care about kobe, why then care enough to flag? just let it go and move on to items of greater interest. it's not a political issue rife for flamebait, certainly no moreso than van halen.
  - krapp 6y ago
    I agree with you. But there's nothing you can do to change it. I'm not saying you should stop calling it out either, but the only result will be that eventually you will annoy the mods - not because of what you're saying but because you're being repetitive and "repetition is the enemy of curiosity" - and they'll either ask you to stop and you will, or you won't and they'll ban you.
    - clairity 6y ago
      none of this discussion is ban-worthy by any reasonable measure, but rather should impel thought, not simply reaction. > "repetition is the enemy of curiosity" that's certainly not true. expertise requires repetition (as kobe would tell you) and no one would disdain researchers for their repetitive curiosity.

Agreed. Sadly, there's no defense or explanation of this, other than that moderators are arbitrarily (and in a very exclusionary way) defining what constitutes "hacker culture".

krapp 6y ago

It isn't the moderators, it's the users. More people here care about Eddie Van Halen than did Kobe Bryant. I won't theorize about the rationale behind that but the decision about which celebrity obituaries stay up and which don't seems to be entirely up to the zeitgeist. If people have nostalgia for the work of someone who died, they won't flag the thread. If they don't care about the person, or other biases are at work, they will. No greater explanation is necessary than the dice roll as they do. The culture is the culture. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

cosmicac 6y ago
Are the moderators not the ones deciding which threads get removed and which don't?
- krapp 6y ago
  Users are the ones who flag threads, not moderators. Mods will unflag threads if they don't feel they should have been flagged or otherwise manipulate rankings but as far as I know flagging is entirely from users.
- YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
  Not at all. Posts are removed when they're flagged by users and the mods don't seem to intervene. I wonder if they even have the power to intervene. I remember one post where dang (moderator) was basically trying to negotiate with one or two users who had flagged the thread to unflag it, after the title was changed (or maybe it was something discussed in the thread, this is a bit vague in my memorey, sorry). The post stayed flagged. Bottom line: it's not the mods, it's the users. That's HN.
clairity 6y ago
it's hypocritical and worth calling out for discussion, not justifying with a shrug. if a particular user doesn't care about kobe, why then care enough to flag? just let it go and move on to items of greater interest. it's not a political issue rife for flamebait, certainly no moreso than van halen.
- krapp 6y ago
  I agree with you. But there's nothing you can do to change it. I'm not saying you should stop calling it out either, but the only result will be that eventually you will annoy the mods - not because of what you're saying but because you're being repetitive and "repetition is the enemy of curiosity" - and they'll either ask you to stop and you will, or you won't and they'll ban you.
  - clairity 6y ago
    none of this discussion is ban-worthy by any reasonable measure, but rather should impel thought, not simply reaction. > "repetition is the enemy of curiosity" that's certainly not true. expertise requires repetition (as kobe would tell you) and no one would disdain researchers for their repetitive curiosity.