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I think a lot of posts are flagged / killed as off topic rather than specifically as ideological. In some sense, it's more of a problem that many purely ideolog

I think a lot of posts are flagged / killed as off topic rather than specifically as ideological. In some sense, it's more of a problem that many purely ideological posts are not killed, and so it makes people notice the bias of what's permitted and what isn't. HN is one of the few (maybe the only) forum that still tolerates some intellectual discussion about issues that other sites would ignorantly label as conspiracy / misinformation and ban discussion. And for that reason, it is a popular place to reach a minority audience that's actually interested in discussing unorthodox political views, without descending into some kind of raving charicature of the right or just trolling like free speech sites often do. But it's still a tech site, and would be better if there was less political / ideology from all sides

cratermoon 5y ago
> HN is one of the few (maybe the only) forum that still tolerates some intellectual discussion about issues that other sites would ignorantly label as conspiracy / misinformation and ban discussion What sort of topics do you mean?
mod 5y ago
> HN is one of the few (maybe the only) forum that still tolerates some intellectual discussion about issues that other sites would ignorantly label as conspiracy / misinformation and ban discussion What kind of places do you mean? I've been part of many online communities, and never once has one banned any type of discussion. At most, they would ask for off-topic conversations to be restricted to specific forum threads. HN is probably the most heavily-moderated community I've been a part of. I'm grateful for that, frankly--I don't think letting every comment section devolve into a political debate is healthy for any individuals, let alone the community here. I've actually noticed lately that, even here, more threads feel like arguments (name calling, derision of opinions, etc), and fewer feel like discussions. Everywhere else (FB & Reddit, in particular), I feel like there's virtually no discussion, and almost entirely arguments.

cratermoon 5y ago

mod 5y ago

> HN is one of the few (maybe the only) forum that still tolerates some intellectual discussion about issues that other sites would ignorantly label as conspiracy / misinformation and ban discussion What kind of places do you mean? I've been part of many online communities, and never once has one banned any type of discussion. At most, they would ask for off-topic conversations to be restricted to specific forum threads. HN is probably the most heavily-moderated community I've been a part of. I'm grateful for that, frankly--I don't think letting every comment section devolve into a political debate is healthy for any individuals, let alone the community here. I've actually noticed lately that, even here, more threads feel like arguments (name calling, derision of opinions, etc), and fewer feel like discussions. Everywhere else (FB & Reddit, in particular), I feel like there's virtually no discussion, and almost entirely arguments.