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Since we are throwing around shallow mantras in lieu of a discussion, "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." If my original thoughts on <th

Since we are throwing around shallow mantras in lieu of a discussion, "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." If my original thoughts on <that which is not to be discussed> bore you, I guess I'll skip my comparison of conditions around here to the peasant scene in "Monty Python's Holy Grail". [1] On-list moderation makes boring reading, too. <Yawn.> "Cheerio, old boy," as the gentry used to say. -- [1] "Help, I'm being repressed...You saw him repressing me didn't you?" -- Michael

dang 6y ago
For sure, the moderation comments are tedious. If it helps at all, they're even more tedious to write than to read [1]. However, even though they look the same as regular HN comments, they play a different role—they are out-of-band feedback signals which help the system regulate itself. Without them, the site guidelines would have negligible effect and HN would melt down into a hot core of rage and sensationalism. One way to think of them is like a medicine which is toxic in its own right, but which you take when the alternative is worse. It would be wonderful if we could drop them altogether and have the site stay as good or better, but alas that's not an option. [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=tedious%20write%20read%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...