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> and then was hit with meconium accounts doing wall of text dumps about nazis and kill, kill, kill, etc - leading to the flagging. So, it was okay to flag it

> and then was hit with meconium accounts doing wall of text dumps about nazis and kill, kill, kill, etc - leading to the flagging. So, it was okay to flag it because some users were writing unreasonably vile comments? If this tactic works, then it would be a good way to get something flagged.

defrost 3y ago
It's OK to flag anything - that's free will at play. It's especially OK to flag things that are off-topic as per the guidelines: Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html as opposed to: On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. There was very little in the linked thread that gratified intellectual curiosity.
- hjoldic 3y ago
  > It's OK to flag anything - that's free will at play. If it was organic and from regular users, I would agree with you. However, I don't think it is, considering how targeted the flagging is. If you don't agree with me, then at least consider the possibility. Wouldn't you want to make it harder for people to do that?
  - defrost 3y ago
    There are already barriers to flagging, many threads get flagged by people who have passsed those barriers and are deemed entitled to flag. A number of flagged posts are vouched for, leading to posts being unflagged - such as the linked post which is no longer flagged. You appear to be arguing that the ocean should be wetter.
    - hjoldic 3y ago
      I have provided a link that was flagged, but it's not flagged anymore. So, it was both deemed to be a valid submission and for the most part it was invisible to users - ergo, the damage was done. What you are describing obviously doesn't work.

defrost 3y ago

It's OK to flag anything - that's free will at play. It's especially OK to flag things that are off-topic as per the guidelines: Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html as opposed to: On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. There was very little in the linked thread that gratified intellectual curiosity.

hjoldic 3y ago
> It's OK to flag anything - that's free will at play. If it was organic and from regular users, I would agree with you. However, I don't think it is, considering how targeted the flagging is. If you don't agree with me, then at least consider the possibility. Wouldn't you want to make it harder for people to do that?
- defrost 3y ago
  There are already barriers to flagging, many threads get flagged by people who have passsed those barriers and are deemed entitled to flag. A number of flagged posts are vouched for, leading to posts being unflagged - such as the linked post which is no longer flagged. You appear to be arguing that the ocean should be wetter.
  - hjoldic 3y ago
    I have provided a link that was flagged, but it's not flagged anymore. So, it was both deemed to be a valid submission and for the most part it was invisible to users - ergo, the damage was done. What you are describing obviously doesn't work.