5 ms·

Clarity on how posts are hidden or marked as dead

5 points by nunocoracao 3y ago

It's not clear to me how posts are moderated and where can I find that ruleset. Example, I posted an article on AI which got some visibility and that was ok, yesterday I posted one on strategy and it was dead in a couple of minutes... I understand mods trying to prevent spam but it's hard to engage without understanding the rules.

latexr 3y ago
> where can I find that ruleset (…) it's hard to engage without understanding the rules. If the exact rules were available, it would be trivial for spammers to circumvent them by adhering to the letter of the rule and changes would have to be done way slower (because they’d have to be documented every time). It would also lead to lengthy unproductive discussions and lack of flexibility for the sole moderator when applying the spirit of the rule. You’ll sometimes find posts by dang explaining various policies, and there are some sources which try to document the undocumented: https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented?tab=readme-ov-file https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented?tab=re... It is my understanding some websites (like dev.to) are automatically killed due to a prevalence of low quality posts. But users with showdead enabled can still see those and vouch for them, which brings them back alive. Posts may also be flagged by users for a variety of reasons such as the subject having been posted and discussed multiple times in the last few days, essentially making the new post a duplicate.
- nunocoracao 3y ago
  Those are good points. And the link is really useful will need time to digest it all. My only counterargument is that the current model seems to suffer from the same problems already. For example, the post I mentioned was an essay I wrote on execution VS ideas, not promoting me, not promoting anything I am doing. Still, it's dead apparently. Just today I found multiple links to product web pages created by green users that were live. Doesn't seem 100% fair...
codingdave 3y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html What you are probably getting tripped up by is: "Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity."
- nunocoracao 3y ago
  Not really... the post I mentioned was not self-promotion was an essay I posted on my blog. The intent was to start a discussion around the topic, not self-promotion. As it stands I was not even aware the post was killed, let a lone the reason.
  - runjake 3y ago
    You posted a link to your own blog post. That is self-promotion and this exact situation results in being often marked as dead. It’s not just you.
  - hayst4ck 3y ago
    I think you are self promoting. The account "rune19" on submission ID "31892247" looks like a clear effort to circumvent organic ranking and push your own content. You have few comments and most of them are exclusively in your own posts, your karma is low, and all posts submitted look like attempts to draw attention to yourself and your work. I think the moderation is working exactly as intended, in which case explaining what triggered the moderation serves only to help you circumvent the guidelines/rules. If you think you are being unfairly modded you can e-mail HN and ask what's up. I give it 50/50 on whether dang tells you why you are triggering automod or asks you nicely not to use HN for self promotion. It's possible that you are not triggering any auto-moderation and it's directly a result of HN users flagging obviously self-promotional content. I think a good number of HN users are aggressively hostile to self promotion on HN because if that behavior is rewarded, you get more of it. > Guidelines: Please don't post on HN to ask or tell us something. Send it to hn@ycombinator.com.
beardyw 3y ago
Looking at your submissions with show dead I can't see anything from yesterday. If you set up a sock puppet that wouldn't help.
- nunocoracao 3y ago
  Yeah, no sock puppet here. This is the link https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39757978 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39757978
  - beardyw 3y ago
    Yes, my mistake.
readyplayernull 3y ago
By the power that HN confers to me your submission is up again.
- nunocoracao 3y ago
  Thanks

5 points by nunocoracao 3y ago

latexr 3y ago

> where can I find that ruleset (…) it's hard to engage without understanding the rules. If the exact rules were available, it would be trivial for spammers to circumvent them by adhering to the letter of the rule and changes would have to be done way slower (because they’d have to be documented every time). It would also lead to lengthy unproductive discussions and lack of flexibility for the sole moderator when applying the spirit of the rule. You’ll sometimes find posts by dang explaining various policies, and there are some sources which try to document the undocumented: https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented?tab=readme-ov-file https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented?tab=re... It is my understanding some websites (like dev.to) are automatically killed due to a prevalence of low quality posts. But users with showdead enabled can still see those and vouch for them, which brings them back alive. Posts may also be flagged by users for a variety of reasons such as the subject having been posted and discussed multiple times in the last few days, essentially making the new post a duplicate.

nunocoracao 3y ago
Those are good points. And the link is really useful will need time to digest it all. My only counterargument is that the current model seems to suffer from the same problems already. For example, the post I mentioned was an essay I wrote on execution VS ideas, not promoting me, not promoting anything I am doing. Still, it's dead apparently. Just today I found multiple links to product web pages created by green users that were live. Doesn't seem 100% fair...

codingdave 3y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html What you are probably getting tripped up by is: "Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity."

nunocoracao 3y ago
Not really... the post I mentioned was not self-promotion was an essay I posted on my blog. The intent was to start a discussion around the topic, not self-promotion. As it stands I was not even aware the post was killed, let a lone the reason.
- runjake 3y ago
  You posted a link to your own blog post. That is self-promotion and this exact situation results in being often marked as dead. It’s not just you.
- hayst4ck 3y ago
  I think you are self promoting. The account "rune19" on submission ID "31892247" looks like a clear effort to circumvent organic ranking and push your own content. You have few comments and most of them are exclusively in your own posts, your karma is low, and all posts submitted look like attempts to draw attention to yourself and your work. I think the moderation is working exactly as intended, in which case explaining what triggered the moderation serves only to help you circumvent the guidelines/rules. If you think you are being unfairly modded you can e-mail HN and ask what's up. I give it 50/50 on whether dang tells you why you are triggering automod or asks you nicely not to use HN for self promotion. It's possible that you are not triggering any auto-moderation and it's directly a result of HN users flagging obviously self-promotional content. I think a good number of HN users are aggressively hostile to self promotion on HN because if that behavior is rewarded, you get more of it. > Guidelines: Please don't post on HN to ask or tell us something. Send it to hn@ycombinator.com.

beardyw 3y ago

Looking at your submissions with show dead I can't see anything from yesterday. If you set up a sock puppet that wouldn't help.

nunocoracao 3y ago
Yeah, no sock puppet here. This is the link https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39757978 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39757978
- beardyw 3y ago
  Yes, my mistake.

readyplayernull 3y ago

By the power that HN confers to me your submission is up again.

nunocoracao 3y ago
Thanks