hckrnews.com is another useful site for seeing what has been flagged dead. It only shows items once they make the front page, but it retains the link even afte

hckrnews.com is another useful site for seeing what has been flagged dead. It only shows items once they make the front page, but it retains the link even after it is killed on HN. I wouldn't argue against more transparency, but it's odd to argue that Ycombinator shouldn't allow people to vote for posts about companies they are associated with. They do pay for the site, after all. Who are you to declare this? By-and-large I think posts stay on the front page if and only if there is community interest in seeing such posts. I'm more bothered that there are many things that the community wants to discuss that are immediately flagged off. I don't have a problem with 'dang' or Ycombinator consciously deciding that certain topics are unwelcome, but I'm worried about overuse of the "heckler's veto". A very small number of flags by individuals can prevent a discussion that many more people clearly want to have. On the bright side, I've had this concern for many years now, and the site is still alive. While I'd prefer for the discussion be a little more open, staying alive this long means something about the system is working, it's hard to argue with success.