4 ms·

You aren’t alone. I’ve noticed a major uptick in these types of editorial changes that remove or obscure the intent of the underlying content. They don’t seem t

You aren’t alone. I’ve noticed a major uptick in these types of editorial changes that remove or obscure the intent of the underlying content. They don’t seem to follow a consistent editorial standard or voice, and are having a noticeable effect on the quality of the HN UX.

g42gregory 5y ago
Do we know who is doing these edits and why?
- floatingatoll 5y ago
  You could ask the mods why directly about the pig heart article, if you’re seriously interested, using the footer contact link. I wouldn’t do this for every edit and expect a reply, but it seems like asking them to chime in here for a single case study would be simpler and more factual than guessing at reasoning, and I imagine they’re probably willing.
- dang 5y ago
  It could be the submitter, the software, or the mods. For example, the submitter did this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879165 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879165 but the mods did this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879184 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879184 Peter's tool doesn't tend to pick up software edits because most of those happen on submission, which is before the tool picks them up.
  - krapp 5y ago
    Since you seem to be logging edit history internally, how about making that visible to users? There would be a lot less confusion and paranoia around if it were obvious when an edit was made and by whom.
    - dang 5y ago
      Alas, I think the odds are that there would be more, not less. Certainly there would be a lot more fodder for it. These things don't explain themselves, after all; we still have to do that, and it's a ton of work. It's also stressful—it's all public, and if you screw up in any way, you can easily generate more hostility and more work for yourself. I think the current approach, in which we don't publish everything we do but are happy to answer specific questions when people ask them, is the right balance.
dang 5y ago
There's no uptick. The mod practices around titles haven't changed in many years. It's also probably a lot more consistent than it seems. That doesn't translate into perception, though, because people tend to notice the ones that annoy them. I wrote about this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23954907 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23954907

g42gregory 5y ago

Do we know who is doing these edits and why?

floatingatoll 5y ago
You could ask the mods why directly about the pig heart article, if you’re seriously interested, using the footer contact link. I wouldn’t do this for every edit and expect a reply, but it seems like asking them to chime in here for a single case study would be simpler and more factual than guessing at reasoning, and I imagine they’re probably willing.
dang 5y ago
It could be the submitter, the software, or the mods. For example, the submitter did this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879165 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879165 but the mods did this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879184 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879184 Peter's tool doesn't tend to pick up software edits because most of those happen on submission, which is before the tool picks them up.
- krapp 5y ago
  Since you seem to be logging edit history internally, how about making that visible to users? There would be a lot less confusion and paranoia around if it were obvious when an edit was made and by whom.
  - dang 5y ago
    Alas, I think the odds are that there would be more, not less. Certainly there would be a lot more fodder for it. These things don't explain themselves, after all; we still have to do that, and it's a ton of work. It's also stressful—it's all public, and if you screw up in any way, you can easily generate more hostility and more work for yourself. I think the current approach, in which we don't publish everything we do but are happy to answer specific questions when people ask them, is the right balance.

dang 5y ago

There's no uptick. The mod practices around titles haven't changed in many years. It's also probably a lot more consistent than it seems. That doesn't translate into perception, though, because people tend to notice the ones that annoy them. I wrote about this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23954907 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23954907