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"Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon." What in your opinion is evidence of

"Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon." What in your opinion is evidence of some interesting new phenomenon on this page? I am honestly courious because I don't see it. As I commented above the subject discussed on this page is nothing now.

dang 4y ago
That's quite a different question. I didn't look closely at the article, but I don't recall a discussion of that particular phenomenon ('eco-blocks' or whatever placed by businesses on city streets) on HN before. Some commenters seem to think that if an article is provocative then that justifies whatever they feel like posting to the thread. That's extremely far from the case!
- mbrodersen 4y ago
  It is true that the petty crime committed in this case is novel (eco-blocks). But the political context and arguments most certainly aren't. I think it is fair to say that without the controversial political context nobody would care about "eco-blocks" or any other petty crimes. For example, let's say that the citizens tomorrow decided to throw paint at the minivans instead. That would be a novelty. But the ensuring political discussion, the real meat of the comments, would pretty much be the same. So yes the petty crime is technically novel. But the real story (NIMBYs and the homelessness problems), the real meat of the discussion, is not novel at all.
  - dang 4y ago
    Those are good points! but at this point we're talking about whether the refs called a particular ball correctly (i.e. whether the mods interpreted the rules correctly in the case of one article). That's a different question than what the rules are, and whether it's ok to break them (it's not). Certainly the refs making a bad call doesn't give anyone a pass to break unrelated rules or go on a rampage. There's even a rule designed specifically to dampen such reactions in such cases: "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - mbrodersen 4y ago
      > Certainly the refs making a bad call doesn't give anyone a pass to break unrelated rules or go on a rampage. Agree.

dang 4y ago

That's quite a different question. I didn't look closely at the article, but I don't recall a discussion of that particular phenomenon ('eco-blocks' or whatever placed by businesses on city streets) on HN before. Some commenters seem to think that if an article is provocative then that justifies whatever they feel like posting to the thread. That's extremely far from the case!

mbrodersen 4y ago
It is true that the petty crime committed in this case is novel (eco-blocks). But the political context and arguments most certainly aren't. I think it is fair to say that without the controversial political context nobody would care about "eco-blocks" or any other petty crimes. For example, let's say that the citizens tomorrow decided to throw paint at the minivans instead. That would be a novelty. But the ensuring political discussion, the real meat of the comments, would pretty much be the same. So yes the petty crime is technically novel. But the real story (NIMBYs and the homelessness problems), the real meat of the discussion, is not novel at all.
- dang 4y ago
  Those are good points! but at this point we're talking about whether the refs called a particular ball correctly (i.e. whether the mods interpreted the rules correctly in the case of one article). That's a different question than what the rules are, and whether it's ok to break them (it's not). Certainly the refs making a bad call doesn't give anyone a pass to break unrelated rules or go on a rampage. There's even a rule designed specifically to dampen such reactions in such cases: "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - mbrodersen 4y ago
    > Certainly the refs making a bad call doesn't give anyone a pass to break unrelated rules or go on a rampage. Agree.