5 ms·

How did I start a flamewar? I didn't attack anyone. I made a comment about structural racism and people started calling me names and attacking me personally, sa

How did I start a flamewar? I didn't attack anyone. I made a comment about structural racism and people started calling me names and attacking me personally, saying I was part of some propaganda team. Seems like your point of view is that anything that goes along with the US-centric point of view is bad and is flamebait. Am I not allowed to talk about structural racism? Am I not allowed to share my perspective on current and historical actions by the US? Or am I only allowed to say, "Yes, the US is perfect. We are all good here. We have no problems and have never had any problems." Might as well not even have a discussion board at that point. Just links with no comments allowed.

dang 5y ago
You posted massive flamebait: shallow dismissal ("it all boils down to $horrible"), pejorative putdowns of racial/national groups, snark ("can't bear the thought"), complete with downvote baiting—and no actual information to redeem the comment. This was pure provocation and a flamewar was absolutely to be expected. In fact, it was a textbook example of what the site guidelines ask you not to post. Would you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html? Note this one, among the many that you broke: "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive." That's there for good reason. > Or am I only allowed to say It isn't about your views, it's about comment quality. That has nothing to do with the U.S. or anything else that you mentioned; it has to do with internet forum dynamics. We're trying for thoughtful, curious conversation here. That requires conscious care on all our part or we'll end up with the internet default: a forum that sucks, bursts into flames, and eventually burns to a crisp. The way you and other users perpetuated this flamewar is an example of that outcome—another textbook example actually. I know it always feels like the mods must be against you when you get moderated (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=%22always%20feels%22%20mods%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...), but if it helps at all, your counterparts on the opposite side feel like we're secretly on your side. This is routinely true on all divisive topics.

dang 5y ago

You posted massive flamebait: shallow dismissal ("it all boils down to $horrible"), pejorative putdowns of racial/national groups, snark ("can't bear the thought"), complete with downvote baiting—and no actual information to redeem the comment. This was pure provocation and a flamewar was absolutely to be expected. In fact, it was a textbook example of what the site guidelines ask you not to post. Would you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html? Note this one, among the many that you broke: "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive." That's there for good reason. > Or am I only allowed to say It isn't about your views, it's about comment quality. That has nothing to do with the U.S. or anything else that you mentioned; it has to do with internet forum dynamics. We're trying for thoughtful, curious conversation here. That requires conscious care on all our part or we'll end up with the internet default: a forum that sucks, bursts into flames, and eventually burns to a crisp. The way you and other users perpetuated this flamewar is an example of that outcome—another textbook example actually. I know it always feels like the mods must be against you when you get moderated (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=%22always%20feels%22%20mods%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...), but if it helps at all, your counterparts on the opposite side feel like we're secretly on your side. This is routinely true on all divisive topics.