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But I would never post a Balko story here, because they're just not appropriate for HN. Flagged. I don't understand why this wouldn't be appropriate for HN. C

But I would never post a Balko story here, because they're just not appropriate for HN. Flagged. I don't understand why this wouldn't be appropriate for HN. Could you explain what you mean?

count 15y ago
This isn't /r/politics, it's HN. Politics stories that aren't huge major news don't belong here, it's as simple as that.
- masterzora 15y ago
  That's a great guideline (hence why it's listed as such), but it's far from a hard and fast rule. This is a case that directly affects technology-related constitutional rights and is of high interest to hackers. I fail to see what about that doesn't belong here.
tptacek 15y ago
This topic is 1 rhetorical hop away from identity politics. In the best case, you end up with hackers arguing with each other about how they should be taxed. In the worst case, you end up with hackers arguing with each other about who is most genuinely outraged. To quote 'pg, explaining why TSA stories were so dangerous to HN that he was explicitly penalizing them: "If there's a road from hacking to politics, it's probably civil liberties."
timsally 15y ago
Let's run through a thought experiment. How easy would it be for you to replicate the ensuing political discussion in another forum or in real life with coworkers/friends? For most people, fairly easy. I had several such discussions today alone. In contrast, the occasional valuable discussion that still takes place on HN is reasonably difficult to replicate in other online forums and has a high cost for replication in real life (time of smart people is valuable and much cheaper when done async online). Not to mention that PG essentially banned run-of-the-mill politics on HN from the start, but the guidelines are unfortunately vague and haven't withstood the test of time. Therein lies my reasoning for my dislike of politics on HN. Thomas may have different reasoning.

But I would never post a Balko story here, because they're just not appropriate for HN. Flagged. I don't understand why this wouldn't be appropriate for HN. Could you explain what you mean?

count 15y ago

This isn't /r/politics, it's HN. Politics stories that aren't huge major news don't belong here, it's as simple as that.

masterzora 15y ago
That's a great guideline (hence why it's listed as such), but it's far from a hard and fast rule. This is a case that directly affects technology-related constitutional rights and is of high interest to hackers. I fail to see what about that doesn't belong here.

tptacek 15y ago

This topic is 1 rhetorical hop away from identity politics. In the best case, you end up with hackers arguing with each other about how they should be taxed. In the worst case, you end up with hackers arguing with each other about who is most genuinely outraged. To quote 'pg, explaining why TSA stories were so dangerous to HN that he was explicitly penalizing them: "If there's a road from hacking to politics, it's probably civil liberties."

timsally 15y ago

Let's run through a thought experiment. How easy would it be for you to replicate the ensuing political discussion in another forum or in real life with coworkers/friends? For most people, fairly easy. I had several such discussions today alone. In contrast, the occasional valuable discussion that still takes place on HN is reasonably difficult to replicate in other online forums and has a high cost for replication in real life (time of smart people is valuable and much cheaper when done async online). Not to mention that PG essentially banned run-of-the-mill politics on HN from the start, but the guidelines are unfortunately vague and haven't withstood the test of time. Therein lies my reasoning for my dislike of politics on HN. Thomas may have different reasoning.