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I'm going to have to disagree with you, on both points. I, like the person you're responding to, have experienced the zeitgeist of HN and have come to the same

I'm going to have to disagree with you, on both points. I, like the person you're responding to, have experienced the zeitgeist of HN and have come to the same conclusion of a prevailing mid-to-far-left social policy. Again I agree with GP on the points they make about voting, in fact I think we should get rid of votes altogether. The fact is, for most people a vote is a reflection of who they are, not the comment they're voting on. Like I've said before, a comment can be downvoted by every single user on HN and still be accurate and true. The truth is the only thing that matters. Unfortunately, we're each responsible for our own reactions to the feelings we have, and that often means, despite a commenter's best effort, they're still going to offend some and please others. Since we can't please everyone, the best way to do the most good with your words is to use them to spread the truth. The truth is always going to be hard to deal with for some, but they'll be better off with that awareness than with (perhaps blissful) ignorance because the choice of whether to stay ignorant is put into their own hands. Side note: This also reduces the total amount of suffering in the world by reducing the number of people who end up having to pay for the consequences of their actions without any awareness of the existence of the consequences (such as breaking a law you were unaware of and being put in jail for something you didn't know was illegal)

lapcat 3y ago
> I, like the person you're responding to, have experienced the zeitgeist of HN I'm sure you have. And I've experienced the opposite. There's a natural tendency to pay more attention to criticism of one's own views and to come to believe that only one's own views are persecuted, based on one's anecdotal experience, but that view isn't empirically accurate in the aggregate. Again, dang, who has observed countless these kind of complaints on HN, has written about the phenomenon many times. He could probably cite a bunch of examples.
- zarathustreal 3y ago
  While I hear what you're saying, it's bordering on an appeal to authority. Dang is just one person and has his own set of biases
  - lapcat 3y ago
    > While I hear what you're saying, it's bordering on an appeal to authority. Dang is just one person and has his own set of biases My point about dang is that (1) dang has seen more HN comments that literally anyone else in the world and thus has more knowledge about this topic than anyone else in the world; (2) dang specifically sees the posts and comments that have been flagged, because of his job as moderator; (3) dang has seen (and can probably cite) the comments from all ideological standpoints complaining that that the opposite viewpoint is dominant on HN and that their views have been censored. It's an appeal to vast experience and knowledge.
spencerflem 3y ago
fwiw, as someone who identifies as mid to far left, hackernews is not. I like the place for its tech news but not the politics. and, while I don't know your viewpoints, i promise you I think mine are True and Important as well

lapcat 3y ago

> I, like the person you're responding to, have experienced the zeitgeist of HN I'm sure you have. And I've experienced the opposite. There's a natural tendency to pay more attention to criticism of one's own views and to come to believe that only one's own views are persecuted, based on one's anecdotal experience, but that view isn't empirically accurate in the aggregate. Again, dang, who has observed countless these kind of complaints on HN, has written about the phenomenon many times. He could probably cite a bunch of examples.

zarathustreal 3y ago
While I hear what you're saying, it's bordering on an appeal to authority. Dang is just one person and has his own set of biases
- lapcat 3y ago
  > While I hear what you're saying, it's bordering on an appeal to authority. Dang is just one person and has his own set of biases My point about dang is that (1) dang has seen more HN comments that literally anyone else in the world and thus has more knowledge about this topic than anyone else in the world; (2) dang specifically sees the posts and comments that have been flagged, because of his job as moderator; (3) dang has seen (and can probably cite) the comments from all ideological standpoints complaining that that the opposite viewpoint is dominant on HN and that their views have been censored. It's an appeal to vast experience and knowledge.

spencerflem 3y ago

fwiw, as someone who identifies as mid to far left, hackernews is not. I like the place for its tech news but not the politics. and, while I don't know your viewpoints, i promise you I think mine are True and Important as well