4 ms·

Without taking any position on this post itself or flagging of it: flagging has just become abusive. It needs serious reform, @dang. I can't speak for the ori

Without taking any position on this post itself or flagging of it: flagging has just become abusive. It needs serious reform, @dang. I can't speak for the original rationale, but it seems like the intent must be to remove posts or comments that are clearly offensive on some semi-legal grounds (obscene, advocating violence, etc.) Now it's become just "I don't like this." There are many possible reforms, but off the top of my head, changing "flag" to be nothing but a suggestion to the mods might fix it. It would do nothing unless a mod agreed. And the flagger's id should be public and it should cost them something (karma points, maybe).

cbtacy 4y ago
Reforming "flagging" to make it less open to abuse and brigading is obviously overdue.
codehitchhiker 4y ago
100% Flagging stuff because "I don't like this" "it's critical of me or my friend or something I like" should be punished
TechBro8615 4y ago
I flagged it because it's exhausting sociopolitical drivel that has nothing to do with tech. If the company discriminated against this person, then prove it in court. Nobody here has sufficient information to make a determination one way or another. And none of us has an obligation to take the author at their word.
- amatecha 4y ago
  If you don't like it, don't read it. It's on-topic and worth discussing -- maybe not for you, but this story is absolutely not within the criteria of flagging, which is why despite people flagging it, the link remains and will continue to be present on the site.
  - TechBro8615 4y ago
    It's not really on topic. It's a personal grievance of the variety that anyone might have at their job. There's nothing about it that satisfies intellectual curiosity, and as demonstrated by the comments here, it's a topic likely to devolve into a flamewar. This shouldn't be surprising since it's impossible to make any argument from a logical basis. There is simply not enough information available from this one-sided blog post to have a meaningful discussion about it that isn't unfair to one side or the other.
- sangnoir 4y ago
  The purpose of flagging is to indicate that a story does not belong on HN. Frivolous flagging—e.g. flagging a story that's clearly on-topic by the site guidelines just because one personally dislikes it—eventually gets an account's flagging privileges taken away. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12173836 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12173836
  - loeg 4y ago
    GP is arguing that it does not belong on HN.
    - sangnoir 4y ago
      I'm arguing GP personally dislikes the story despite its merits - it very clearly is related to tech - even though it doesn't need to[0]. Evidently, GP is wrong about it belonging to HN. Flagging a link that doesn't break HN guidelines, only because it offends your sensibilities is abusing flagging rights, IMO. 0. HN links only have to be interesting, to belong. They don't have to be tech-related, despite this being a widely-held belief.
      - loeg 4y ago
        GP claims it is not interesting: > exhausting sociopolitical drivel
        sangnoir 4y ago
        >> exhausting sociopolitical drivel That quote would be exhibit A for antipathy, rather than "uninteresting"
        TechBro8615 4y ago
        No, I do mean to say it's uninteresting, because I can predict all the replies. Without any factual basis for discussion, it will inevitably devolve into a predictable - and thus uninteresting - argument rooted in opposing idealogical positions of a culture war.
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  I agree 100% with your characterization of the post. However, I don't agree that flagging it is justified. It's substituting your judgment for that of the 220 people who upvoted it. Unless you're the moderator, that's not your call to make.
  - TechBro8615 4y ago
    Flagging is a privilege you get with 500 karma. By definition it's my call to make, or else there wouldn't be a "flag" button available to me. However, note that moderators can silently ignore flags from certain users. For example I'm pretty sure my own flags have no impact. Whereas soon after I reached 500 karma, one flag from me was enough to set a post to flagged, but at some point my flags stopped making a difference. I'm guessing that if you flag too many "false alarms" then the moderators just turn your flag button into a no-op.
- frob 4y ago
  I don't care how many downvotes I get. An article about discrimination against marginalized groups in tech was flagged by "TechBro8615" because he is sick of "sociopolitical drivel." You can't make this shit up. This is Hacker News distilled into a single article. If someone pitched this to The Onion, they'd throw it back as being too on-the-nose. Thanks for reminding me that Tech Bros still do exist. I don't miss them.
  - raxxorraxor 4y ago
    The accusation of tech bro is basically the same as the accusation of being a nerd. Maybe even far more unsubstantiated. I think this is a media term for people they for some reason or another just don't like very much. That is fine, but the accusation doesn't really carry any meaning.
- cbtacy 4y ago
  That's it. I'm done. Been a Hacker News user since this launched, but have been feeling increasingly like I'm not part of this culture and don't want to be part of this culture anymore. So I'm out. It's sad and kind of tragic to see what was once a thriving, diverse community that embraced all types of marginalized people (nerds, engineers, geeks, and so on) become a cesspool of bigotry and hate speech. And the real tragedy, of course, is that Hacker News is just a microcosm of the developer culture -- which has become disgusting and hateful. I hope those of you who are not bigots manage to fix this place. I hope the developer culture becomes healthier and less toxic. But I'm not going to be around to help or see it. Y'all are too exhausting and depressing. Peace out.
  - TechBro8615 4y ago
    Embracing marginalized people doesn't mean automatically taking the side of the accuser in an employment discrimination case, based on a one-sided blog post with no factual evidence presented. That's just mob politics, and I'm perfectly within my rights to flag the post, just like I'm within my rights to explain why I flagged it when someone asks. It's ironic that you labeled my comment hate speech and essentially called me a bigot, despite knowing nothing about me aside from my username.

cbtacy 4y ago

Reforming "flagging" to make it less open to abuse and brigading is obviously overdue.

codehitchhiker 4y ago

100% Flagging stuff because "I don't like this" "it's critical of me or my friend or something I like" should be punished

TechBro8615 4y ago

I flagged it because it's exhausting sociopolitical drivel that has nothing to do with tech. If the company discriminated against this person, then prove it in court. Nobody here has sufficient information to make a determination one way or another. And none of us has an obligation to take the author at their word.

amatecha 4y ago
If you don't like it, don't read it. It's on-topic and worth discussing -- maybe not for you, but this story is absolutely not within the criteria of flagging, which is why despite people flagging it, the link remains and will continue to be present on the site.
- TechBro8615 4y ago
  It's not really on topic. It's a personal grievance of the variety that anyone might have at their job. There's nothing about it that satisfies intellectual curiosity, and as demonstrated by the comments here, it's a topic likely to devolve into a flamewar. This shouldn't be surprising since it's impossible to make any argument from a logical basis. There is simply not enough information available from this one-sided blog post to have a meaningful discussion about it that isn't unfair to one side or the other.
sangnoir 4y ago
The purpose of flagging is to indicate that a story does not belong on HN. Frivolous flagging—e.g. flagging a story that's clearly on-topic by the site guidelines just because one personally dislikes it—eventually gets an account's flagging privileges taken away. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12173836 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12173836
- loeg 4y ago
  GP is arguing that it does not belong on HN.
  - sangnoir 4y ago
    I'm arguing GP personally dislikes the story despite its merits - it very clearly is related to tech - even though it doesn't need to[0]. Evidently, GP is wrong about it belonging to HN. Flagging a link that doesn't break HN guidelines, only because it offends your sensibilities is abusing flagging rights, IMO. 0. HN links only have to be interesting, to belong. They don't have to be tech-related, despite this being a widely-held belief.
    - loeg 4y ago
      GP claims it is not interesting: > exhausting sociopolitical drivel
      - sangnoir 4y ago
        >> exhausting sociopolitical drivel That quote would be exhibit A for antipathy, rather than "uninteresting"
        TechBro8615 4y ago
        No, I do mean to say it's uninteresting, because I can predict all the replies. Without any factual basis for discussion, it will inevitably devolve into a predictable - and thus uninteresting - argument rooted in opposing idealogical positions of a culture war.
AlbertCory 4y ago
I agree 100% with your characterization of the post. However, I don't agree that flagging it is justified. It's substituting your judgment for that of the 220 people who upvoted it. Unless you're the moderator, that's not your call to make.
- TechBro8615 4y ago
  Flagging is a privilege you get with 500 karma. By definition it's my call to make, or else there wouldn't be a "flag" button available to me. However, note that moderators can silently ignore flags from certain users. For example I'm pretty sure my own flags have no impact. Whereas soon after I reached 500 karma, one flag from me was enough to set a post to flagged, but at some point my flags stopped making a difference. I'm guessing that if you flag too many "false alarms" then the moderators just turn your flag button into a no-op.
frob 4y ago
I don't care how many downvotes I get. An article about discrimination against marginalized groups in tech was flagged by "TechBro8615" because he is sick of "sociopolitical drivel." You can't make this shit up. This is Hacker News distilled into a single article. If someone pitched this to The Onion, they'd throw it back as being too on-the-nose. Thanks for reminding me that Tech Bros still do exist. I don't miss them.
- raxxorraxor 4y ago
  The accusation of tech bro is basically the same as the accusation of being a nerd. Maybe even far more unsubstantiated. I think this is a media term for people they for some reason or another just don't like very much. That is fine, but the accusation doesn't really carry any meaning.
cbtacy 4y ago
That's it. I'm done. Been a Hacker News user since this launched, but have been feeling increasingly like I'm not part of this culture and don't want to be part of this culture anymore. So I'm out. It's sad and kind of tragic to see what was once a thriving, diverse community that embraced all types of marginalized people (nerds, engineers, geeks, and so on) become a cesspool of bigotry and hate speech. And the real tragedy, of course, is that Hacker News is just a microcosm of the developer culture -- which has become disgusting and hateful. I hope those of you who are not bigots manage to fix this place. I hope the developer culture becomes healthier and less toxic. But I'm not going to be around to help or see it. Y'all are too exhausting and depressing. Peace out.
- TechBro8615 4y ago
  Embracing marginalized people doesn't mean automatically taking the side of the accuser in an employment discrimination case, based on a one-sided blog post with no factual evidence presented. That's just mob politics, and I'm perfectly within my rights to flag the post, just like I'm within my rights to explain why I flagged it when someone asks. It's ironic that you labeled my comment hate speech and essentially called me a bigot, despite knowing nothing about me aside from my username.