3 ms·

Think might be a misunderstanding. I'm referring to a post that got removed, not one that was simply unpopular. There is no issue with the voting mechanism.

krapp 5y ago
Flagging of articles is done by users, not moderators, and it takes very little effort to flag an article, by design. Many people here consider politics categorically off topic (which it really isn't) and will flag such articles on principle.
- trompetenaccoun 5y ago
  Ok, apparently flagging can lead to automatic removal, I understand that now. But how exactly? It's not explained anywhere. How many flags are needed for a submission to get auto-removed? >and it takes very little effort to flag an article, by design. I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone on HN how such a design can be easily abused. A single entity could get undesirable submissions removed by running multiple accounts.
  - krapp 5y ago
    >But how exactly? It's not explained anywhere. How many flags are needed for a submission to get auto-removed? Nothing is really removed from HN, only marked invisible. You can see it if you turn the showdead option on in your profile. And you can contact the mods in the email field below but they tend not to give specific details. >A single entity could get undesirable submissions removed by running multiple accounts. Sure, but this forum is so aggressively moderated that it really wouldn't matter. If the mods feel a story doesn't deserve to be flagged, they'll unflag it. If they feel it doesn't deserve to be as popular as it is, they'll sink it. Users will flag and downvote for any number of reasons (since there are no guidelines for voting here.) There are so many invisible strings being pulled on these threads that it's impossible to read any specific motive into anything.

3 ms·

Think might be a misunderstanding. I'm referring to a post that got removed, not one that was simply unpopular. There is no issue with the voting mechanism.

by trompetenaccoun 5y ago

krapp 5y ago
Flagging of articles is done by users, not moderators, and it takes very little effort to flag an article, by design. Many people here consider politics categorically off topic (which it really isn't) and will flag such articles on principle.
- trompetenaccoun 5y ago
  Ok, apparently flagging can lead to automatic removal, I understand that now. But how exactly? It's not explained anywhere. How many flags are needed for a submission to get auto-removed? >and it takes very little effort to flag an article, by design. I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone on HN how such a design can be easily abused. A single entity could get undesirable submissions removed by running multiple accounts.
  - krapp 5y ago
    >But how exactly? It's not explained anywhere. How many flags are needed for a submission to get auto-removed? Nothing is really removed from HN, only marked invisible. You can see it if you turn the showdead option on in your profile. And you can contact the mods in the email field below but they tend not to give specific details. >A single entity could get undesirable submissions removed by running multiple accounts. Sure, but this forum is so aggressively moderated that it really wouldn't matter. If the mods feel a story doesn't deserve to be flagged, they'll unflag it. If they feel it doesn't deserve to be as popular as it is, they'll sink it. Users will flag and downvote for any number of reasons (since there are no guidelines for voting here.) There are so many invisible strings being pulled on these threads that it's impossible to read any specific motive into anything.