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Why would you flag a story before it becomes a flamewar? That just buries anything that's difficult to talk about, even if it's necessary that we talk about it.
by throwaway984393 5y ago
Why would you flag a story before it becomes a flamewar? That just buries anything that's difficult to talk about, even if it's necessary that we talk about it.
- phdelightful 5y agoBecause I don't want to see a flamewar on HN, and by the time the war has started it's too late. As shown by this submission, it doesn't automatically bury things that are hard to talk about, it just means the submission has to generate much more light than heat, which is hard to do.
- throwaway984393 5y agoThere is a "hide" button next to the "flag" button if you don't want to see it. Flagging a story just because you don't want to see it is one of those things that causes HN to be worse, like downvoting a comment if one disagrees with an opinion, rather than because it's not following the HN guidelines. If it has become a flamewar, that's worth flagging, but preemptive flagging will end up reinforcing bias (like the trend of inclusion & diversity posts disappearing)