4 ms·

Couldn't it be also because of bots/paid-humans writing the same kind of comments and liking them to make them bubble to the top?

seoulmetro 3y ago
No. Because it does the same thing for comments by normal people. It's an actual feature of YouTube now. YouTube has been censored for a while. Writing anything even remotely critical is weighted down. You can only critically write good things about something, but that's not very easy to do. There's a reason why youtube comments are echo chambers of "happiness for the video". It's like Reddit, where you are writing comments to pass the hive mind filter. Welcome to modern communal interactions, where having a valid or invalid opinion is bad only because it is different.
- jakear 3y ago
  HN is no different. For a handful of select hot-button topics, any deviation from toeing the party line will result in near immediate downvote barrage and eventual [flagged][dead]. On the flip side, for some (usually the same) topics it’s easy to write banal karma-fishing comments sure to rise to the top of the thread. At least HN has a time-decay aspect on those.
  - account42 3y ago
    Which topics are those? It doesn't take many downvotes/flags to kill a post here but for most issues there isn't a single hive mind and the result really depends on the thread and also time.
  - angusturner 3y ago
    HN still seems to value constructive criticism though, to an extent that is simply not possible on YouTube. YouTube comment section is basically a cesspool of toxic positivity now, with absolutely no informational value at all. I feel like this has been the case for a couple of years now, where nothing even slightly critical will be surfaced by whatever automated algorithm they are using to filter/boost content.
    - avereveard 3y ago
      Eh. I've seen it happen and it's really damaging to discussion. I now actively avoid some topics and let people believe whatever they want around a few topic where the community usually get it wrong, but actively resist getting corrected.
  - supriyo-biswas 3y ago
    Thank you for writing that. I think both karma limits/day and a downvote limit/user need to be instituted to allow for respectful disagreement and useful conversations on HN.
- KronisLV 3y ago
  > Writing anything even remotely critical is weighted down. You can only critically write good things about something, but that's not very easy to do. While objectivity and truth are both good, the way how people phrase things can sometimes come across as quite mean spirited, almost like an attack on someone else. This is probably in part because there absolutely are people online who actually enjoy posting vile comments and hurting others, so many have their guard up. Ergo, more luck can be had when phrasing things constructively or without a tone that might even accidentally appear dismissive. > There's a reason why youtube comments are echo chambers of "happiness for the video". It's like Reddit, where you are writing comments to pass the hive mind filter. Welcome to modern communal interactions, where having a valid or invalid opinion is bad only because it is different. I'll even go as far as to admit that in my eyes this is for the better. Recently someone from LTT came out as trans and many of the comments initially were just painful to read. Lots of attempts at being as hurtful as possible and just horrible rhetoric, that not only adds nothing to the conversation, but also brings down the mood of everyone. But revisiting the video now, most of the comments are far more civil and the vile things have mostly been purged, reading the comments now doesn't hurt. It's probably quite hard to find a middle ground between being too aggressive or lax with moderation and the degree of this will vary between different communities - what sentiments are okay, what jokes are acceptable, what rhetoric can be used. My hopes are that Internet and the various popular communities will remain humane, while still allowing for discussions and disagreement about most topics. I think that HN typically finds a decent balance: people can have disagreements without getting too uncivil and it's kept that way. I remember discussions about WFH and someone who told me to "get cancer and die" got flagged and more or less removed from the discussion, because that didn't contribute anything.

seoulmetro 3y ago

No. Because it does the same thing for comments by normal people. It's an actual feature of YouTube now. YouTube has been censored for a while. Writing anything even remotely critical is weighted down. You can only critically write good things about something, but that's not very easy to do. There's a reason why youtube comments are echo chambers of "happiness for the video". It's like Reddit, where you are writing comments to pass the hive mind filter. Welcome to modern communal interactions, where having a valid or invalid opinion is bad only because it is different.

jakear 3y ago
HN is no different. For a handful of select hot-button topics, any deviation from toeing the party line will result in near immediate downvote barrage and eventual [flagged][dead]. On the flip side, for some (usually the same) topics it’s easy to write banal karma-fishing comments sure to rise to the top of the thread. At least HN has a time-decay aspect on those.
- account42 3y ago
  Which topics are those? It doesn't take many downvotes/flags to kill a post here but for most issues there isn't a single hive mind and the result really depends on the thread and also time.
- angusturner 3y ago
  HN still seems to value constructive criticism though, to an extent that is simply not possible on YouTube. YouTube comment section is basically a cesspool of toxic positivity now, with absolutely no informational value at all. I feel like this has been the case for a couple of years now, where nothing even slightly critical will be surfaced by whatever automated algorithm they are using to filter/boost content.
  - avereveard 3y ago
    Eh. I've seen it happen and it's really damaging to discussion. I now actively avoid some topics and let people believe whatever they want around a few topic where the community usually get it wrong, but actively resist getting corrected.
- supriyo-biswas 3y ago
  Thank you for writing that. I think both karma limits/day and a downvote limit/user need to be instituted to allow for respectful disagreement and useful conversations on HN.
KronisLV 3y ago
> Writing anything even remotely critical is weighted down. You can only critically write good things about something, but that's not very easy to do. While objectivity and truth are both good, the way how people phrase things can sometimes come across as quite mean spirited, almost like an attack on someone else. This is probably in part because there absolutely are people online who actually enjoy posting vile comments and hurting others, so many have their guard up. Ergo, more luck can be had when phrasing things constructively or without a tone that might even accidentally appear dismissive. > There's a reason why youtube comments are echo chambers of "happiness for the video". It's like Reddit, where you are writing comments to pass the hive mind filter. Welcome to modern communal interactions, where having a valid or invalid opinion is bad only because it is different. I'll even go as far as to admit that in my eyes this is for the better. Recently someone from LTT came out as trans and many of the comments initially were just painful to read. Lots of attempts at being as hurtful as possible and just horrible rhetoric, that not only adds nothing to the conversation, but also brings down the mood of everyone. But revisiting the video now, most of the comments are far more civil and the vile things have mostly been purged, reading the comments now doesn't hurt. It's probably quite hard to find a middle ground between being too aggressive or lax with moderation and the degree of this will vary between different communities - what sentiments are okay, what jokes are acceptable, what rhetoric can be used. My hopes are that Internet and the various popular communities will remain humane, while still allowing for discussions and disagreement about most topics. I think that HN typically finds a decent balance: people can have disagreements without getting too uncivil and it's kept that way. I remember discussions about WFH and someone who told me to "get cancer and die" got flagged and more or less removed from the discussion, because that didn't contribute anything.