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BBC, CNN and HN - Protecting you from information

5 points by J3L2404 15y ago

ColinWright 15y ago
Firstly, it seemed to me that yesterday I heard nothing but people talking about "The Impending Ice Age." This isn't news to me, and it's not secret. Secondly, all news sources have to decide what they will and will not report. Sadly, this means that the news is in the hands of media types, most of whom have no concept of what's important in science and what isn't. They constantly distort and mis-report news, so you should never believe anything they say anyway. They believe they are helping their users by withholding that information. Thirdly, never ascribe to malice what is adequately explained by incompetence. Which brings us to HN. PG wants to protect you by withholding information about users opinions, comment scores. I don't want protection. I want to know the community's sentiment in and of itself, and as a gauge of how the userbase is changing and where it is right now. If civility is lacking in the discourse then the community needs to step up and downvote and flag. WE ARE NOT CHILDREN! The truth may be difficult but what is the point of anything without it. I don't agree with the hiding of comment scores, and I don't see that much has been improved by it, but it is PG's right to make the experiment. If he believes it will improve the community then it really is his place to make that decision. I'm playing my part by continuing to contribute, comment, vote and flag and I think are appropriate. I'm also producing a site that I hope will cater more to my interests than HN currently does. No doubt I will soon learn of the problems PG is currently trying to control. I wouldn't have posted this except my earlier post was killed. Was it? It's still there for me to see. Here is the AskHN I posted earlier which started getting traction but was killed by a moderator. Are you sure? I have access to it: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2656651 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2656651
- J3L2404 15y ago
  Thanks for replying and sorry I never got back to you about your experiments, but I have been busy (but apparently not too busy to waste my time on this!). I will try to be better about my emails. The AskHN wasn't officially killed (more backdoor BS) it just can't be found except by direct link. I stopped looking thru AskHN at 300. I can't stand people not being upfront. If you do get an alternate site going I would love to help in anyway I can. Also HN seems to think we are a voting ring because when I upvote you it doesn't register. Whatever. I'll email you later.
  - ColinWright 15y ago
    Thanks for replying and sorry I never got back to you about your experiments, No problem ... The AskHN wasn't officially killed (more backdoor BS) it just can't be found except by direct link. I stopped looking thru AskHN at 300. I suspect it was being flagged. There's a severe penalty on the rankings of items that get even a few flags. Your post has a hint of a rant, and no doubt people think it doesn't belong on Hacker News. It's not about startups, it's not about technology, it a conspiracy theory, and probably a few people flagged it as being "inappropriate." That's HN these days. Plus it had a ranking penalty already for being an "Ask HN" rather than the submission of a link. If you do get an alternate site going I would love to help in anyway I can. Cool. Email me and I'll send you a link. Also HN seems to think we are a voting ring because when I upvote you it doesn't register. <shrug> I've lost interest. I submit out of habit, read out of curiosity, and go elsewhere for most of my interesting stuff. You may, however, discover that if you wait 5 seconds and refresh the page then the upvote may count. It might not, but in my experience it usually does, even if it didn't register immediately. Just another consequence of the volume of traffic HN gets. FWIW, here are the first few links after searching for "ice age" on Twitter: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/14/ice_age/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/14/ice_age/ http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110614/ts_afp/usspacesun http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110614/ts_afp/usspacesun http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2011/06/14/a-mini-ice-age/ http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2011/06/14/a-mini-ice-age/ http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/163264/20110615/sunspot-activity-ice-age-maunder-minimum-corona.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/163264/20110615/sunspot-acti...

5 points by J3L2404 15y ago

Firstly, it seemed to me that yesterday I heard nothing but people talking about "The Impending Ice Age." This isn't news to me, and it's not secret. Secondly, all news sources have to decide what they will and will not report. Sadly, this means that the news is in the hands of media types, most of whom have no concept of what's important in science and what isn't. They constantly distort and mis-report news, so you should never believe anything they say anyway. They believe they are helping their users by withholding that information. Thirdly, never ascribe to malice what is adequately explained by incompetence. Which brings us to HN. PG wants to protect you by withholding information about users opinions, comment scores. I don't want protection. I want to know the community's sentiment in and of itself, and as a gauge of how the userbase is changing and where it is right now. If civility is lacking in the discourse then the community needs to step up and downvote and flag. WE ARE NOT CHILDREN! The truth may be difficult but what is the point of anything without it. I don't agree with the hiding of comment scores, and I don't see that much has been improved by it, but it is PG's right to make the experiment. If he believes it will improve the community then it really is his place to make that decision. I'm playing my part by continuing to contribute, comment, vote and flag and I think are appropriate. I'm also producing a site that I hope will cater more to my interests than HN currently does. No doubt I will soon learn of the problems PG is currently trying to control. I wouldn't have posted this except my earlier post was killed. Was it? It's still there for me to see. Here is the AskHN I posted earlier which started getting traction but was killed by a moderator. Are you sure? I have access to it: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2656651 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2656651

J3L2404 15y ago
Thanks for replying and sorry I never got back to you about your experiments, but I have been busy (but apparently not too busy to waste my time on this!). I will try to be better about my emails. The AskHN wasn't officially killed (more backdoor BS) it just can't be found except by direct link. I stopped looking thru AskHN at 300. I can't stand people not being upfront. If you do get an alternate site going I would love to help in anyway I can. Also HN seems to think we are a voting ring because when I upvote you it doesn't register. Whatever. I'll email you later.
- ColinWright 15y ago
  Thanks for replying and sorry I never got back to you about your experiments, No problem ... The AskHN wasn't officially killed (more backdoor BS) it just can't be found except by direct link. I stopped looking thru AskHN at 300. I suspect it was being flagged. There's a severe penalty on the rankings of items that get even a few flags. Your post has a hint of a rant, and no doubt people think it doesn't belong on Hacker News. It's not about startups, it's not about technology, it a conspiracy theory, and probably a few people flagged it as being "inappropriate." That's HN these days. Plus it had a ranking penalty already for being an "Ask HN" rather than the submission of a link. If you do get an alternate site going I would love to help in anyway I can. Cool. Email me and I'll send you a link. Also HN seems to think we are a voting ring because when I upvote you it doesn't register. <shrug> I've lost interest. I submit out of habit, read out of curiosity, and go elsewhere for most of my interesting stuff. You may, however, discover that if you wait 5 seconds and refresh the page then the upvote may count. It might not, but in my experience it usually does, even if it didn't register immediately. Just another consequence of the volume of traffic HN gets. FWIW, here are the first few links after searching for "ice age" on Twitter: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/14/ice_age/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/14/ice_age/ http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110614/ts_afp/usspacesun http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110614/ts_afp/usspacesun http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2011/06/14/a-mini-ice-age/ http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2011/06/14/a-mini-ice-age/ http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/163264/20110615/sunspot-activity-ice-age-maunder-minimum-corona.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/163264/20110615/sunspot-acti...