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I cannot comment on the content at all because I can't access the submission. Pages submitted to HN should simply not be behind login walls, which is why I fla

I cannot comment on the content at all because I can't access the submission. Pages submitted to HN should simply not be behind login walls, which is why I flagged this. This thread already has multiple references to the fact that you have to log in to see the submitted post. There are many HN users without a FB account. For them, the headline of the submission cannot be verified by clicking on the link. Although there is a large intersection between the two groups of HN and FB users, you don't have to be signed up with any other webservice in order to use HN. This is not only about FB. As a matter of principle posts to HN should be accessible for all HN users without requiring them to sign up with any other webservice. However, this is up to PG and the HN community. It would be good if PG provided a guideline whether submissions behind login walls are accepted or not.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
waterhouse 14y ago
Excellent point. Fortunately, at least in this case, we can resolve the issue somewhat by taking a screenshot and linking it: http://imgur.com/zdUDf http://imgur.com/zdUDf (Edit: cr4zy already addressed this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3997613 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3997613) (On a similar note, I've done some online math contests that gave the problems in Word .doc format. Once, on a collaborative contest, OpenOffice was not sufficient; there were images that got misaligned or didn't even display. I took the documents, sent them to an online Word -> PDF converter, and posted the results to the shared email account "for great justice". Things like not having Word should not be barriers to doing math contests.)
- tripzilch 14y ago
  Thanks. To be fair, they seem a cute couple and the pic made me smile.
alecbenzer 14y ago
Dis-allowing links like this seems extreme. I think appending something like "[requires facebook]" to the title as a matter of etiquette would work. As a kind of loose analogy, no one really has problems with links to pdfs, but you don't need to have a pdf reader to sign up for HN (and I often see the "[pdf]" notice appended to such links).
- tommi 14y ago
  That's not an analogy. Anybody with a computer can get a PDF reader without giving your information to a third party. There many PDF readers, not just one. I vote for disallowing links that require login for the reasons explained in grand parent's comment.
  - romeodelight 14y ago
    it's a photo of someone who just got married. lighten up.
- sesqu 14y ago
  Chrome has gone a long way to alleviate my issues with PDFs, but a lot of people still absolutely do have problems with links to those - to the point that Scribd was successfully launched. As for FB, it has much worse penetration than PDFs, which are still near the pain threshold for general news.
- heyitsnick 14y ago
  You PDF analogy is an apt example, as the [pdf] part links to scribd where you can view the document online without a PDF reader.
- plg 14y ago
  Disallow
  - mkr-hn 14y ago
    Is this a reference to South Park's Facebook episode or an attempt at correcting something that didn't need a correction?
zerostar07 14y ago
I don't have Facebook, but the title says it all (shouldn't it be 'got married?' btw). I guess congratulations are in order for going public (with their commitment I mean)
- Toucan 14y ago
  "To marry" is a verb. "Married" is the past tense. The headline is fine.
  - zerostar07 14y ago
    Just for the fun of it, "married" is ambiguous as it may mean he married years ago (supposing we did not know whether he was married or not), but "got married" signifies a change. http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/99745-got-married-married.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/99745-got-marr...
    - heyitsnick 14y ago
      Additional fun (and ambiguity): The verb "to marry" also means to perform the marriage ceremony. "Mark Zuckerberg married" could, in theory, mean Zuckerberg married two other people. "Got married" doesn't suffer from ambiguity and for that reason i think preferred.
      - evincarofautumn 14y ago
        No. He married. It’s unambiguously intransitive.
        eta_carinae 14y ago
        Correct. "To marry" is actually one of these rare verbs that can be both transitive and intransitive. And like somebody pointed out earlier, it can either mean that the subject is the one getting married or that they are performing the ceremony.
        14y ago
wilfra 14y ago
When you see the URL is facebook.com just assume it is behind a login wall and don't click it. The other 99.5% of people wont care because they have FB accounts. Whats the problem?
- esolyt 14y ago
  Not every page on Facebook is behind a login wall.
- sp332 14y ago
  News about acquisitions https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3817840 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3817840 or interesting hacks by FB employees https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2002742 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2002742 and actual engineering details https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3347457 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3347457 are hosted on facebook.com and are HN-worthy.
pg 14y ago
I'm one of the people who can't see it. Usually we'd kill a submission on a FB page. Do you understand what's different this time? Honestly, the comments on this thread are such an embarrassment.
- ceol 14y ago
  Is the difference you're implying the fact it's Mark Zuckerberg, the person whose company just went public and is a relatively famous Internet entrepreneur? I'm not trying to take a side, but I'm not sure which difference you're implying and which comments are an embarrassment. Could you expand?
  - romeodelight 14y ago
    do you feel smart about your comment? if you're not interested in a topic, don't click on it. why are you spending time and effort to comment on something you're not interested in?
    - ceol 14y ago
      ...what? I never said I'm not interested in this. In fact, I specifically said I was not taking a side.
  - ticks 14y ago
    My guess would be that it's due to the link pointing to the original source and the title being self explanatory.
  - commonersense 14y ago
    HN Policy Amendment: All Facebook announced weddings can be posted on HN using links to Facebook. Disclosure: HN users who login to Facebook will be tracked according to Facebook's policies. This HN Policy Amendment does not imply that HN staff themselves will be logging in to Facebook.
  - InclinedPlane 14y ago
    It might have something to do with the fact that the guy who invented facebook is using it to announce his marriage.
jvrossb 14y ago
Rules don't exist to for their own sake, they are an imperfect way of formalizing what would otherwise have to left to common sense. But sometimes, common sense obviously trumps the rules. Incidentally, I suspect most bureaucracies emerge from a cargo-cultist/priest of a lost religion mentality where rules are enforced for their own sake without any insight or thought into what the rules were trying to achieve in the first place.
calvin09 14y ago
waaaaahhhh.. Can some one get this loser a life?

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

waterhouse 14y ago

Excellent point. Fortunately, at least in this case, we can resolve the issue somewhat by taking a screenshot and linking it: http://imgur.com/zdUDf http://imgur.com/zdUDf (Edit: cr4zy already addressed this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3997613 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3997613) (On a similar note, I've done some online math contests that gave the problems in Word .doc format. Once, on a collaborative contest, OpenOffice was not sufficient; there were images that got misaligned or didn't even display. I took the documents, sent them to an online Word -> PDF converter, and posted the results to the shared email account "for great justice". Things like not having Word should not be barriers to doing math contests.)

tripzilch 14y ago
Thanks. To be fair, they seem a cute couple and the pic made me smile.

alecbenzer 14y ago

Dis-allowing links like this seems extreme. I think appending something like "[requires facebook]" to the title as a matter of etiquette would work. As a kind of loose analogy, no one really has problems with links to pdfs, but you don't need to have a pdf reader to sign up for HN (and I often see the "[pdf]" notice appended to such links).

tommi 14y ago
That's not an analogy. Anybody with a computer can get a PDF reader without giving your information to a third party. There many PDF readers, not just one. I vote for disallowing links that require login for the reasons explained in grand parent's comment.
- romeodelight 14y ago
  it's a photo of someone who just got married. lighten up.
sesqu 14y ago
Chrome has gone a long way to alleviate my issues with PDFs, but a lot of people still absolutely do have problems with links to those - to the point that Scribd was successfully launched. As for FB, it has much worse penetration than PDFs, which are still near the pain threshold for general news.
heyitsnick 14y ago
You PDF analogy is an apt example, as the [pdf] part links to scribd where you can view the document online without a PDF reader.
plg 14y ago
Disallow
- mkr-hn 14y ago
  Is this a reference to South Park's Facebook episode or an attempt at correcting something that didn't need a correction?

zerostar07 14y ago

I don't have Facebook, but the title says it all (shouldn't it be 'got married?' btw). I guess congratulations are in order for going public (with their commitment I mean)

Toucan 14y ago
"To marry" is a verb. "Married" is the past tense. The headline is fine.
- zerostar07 14y ago
  Just for the fun of it, "married" is ambiguous as it may mean he married years ago (supposing we did not know whether he was married or not), but "got married" signifies a change. http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/99745-got-married-married.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/99745-got-marr...
  - heyitsnick 14y ago
    Additional fun (and ambiguity): The verb "to marry" also means to perform the marriage ceremony. "Mark Zuckerberg married" could, in theory, mean Zuckerberg married two other people. "Got married" doesn't suffer from ambiguity and for that reason i think preferred.
    - evincarofautumn 14y ago
      No. He married. It’s unambiguously intransitive.
      - eta_carinae 14y ago
        Correct. "To marry" is actually one of these rare verbs that can be both transitive and intransitive. And like somebody pointed out earlier, it can either mean that the subject is the one getting married or that they are performing the ceremony.
      - 14y ago

wilfra 14y ago

When you see the URL is facebook.com just assume it is behind a login wall and don't click it. The other 99.5% of people wont care because they have FB accounts. Whats the problem?

esolyt 14y ago
Not every page on Facebook is behind a login wall.
sp332 14y ago
News about acquisitions https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3817840 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3817840 or interesting hacks by FB employees https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2002742 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2002742 and actual engineering details https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3347457 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3347457 are hosted on facebook.com and are HN-worthy.

pg 14y ago

I'm one of the people who can't see it. Usually we'd kill a submission on a FB page. Do you understand what's different this time? Honestly, the comments on this thread are such an embarrassment.

ceol 14y ago
Is the difference you're implying the fact it's Mark Zuckerberg, the person whose company just went public and is a relatively famous Internet entrepreneur? I'm not trying to take a side, but I'm not sure which difference you're implying and which comments are an embarrassment. Could you expand?
- romeodelight 14y ago
  do you feel smart about your comment? if you're not interested in a topic, don't click on it. why are you spending time and effort to comment on something you're not interested in?
  - ceol 14y ago
    ...what? I never said I'm not interested in this. In fact, I specifically said I was not taking a side.
- ticks 14y ago
  My guess would be that it's due to the link pointing to the original source and the title being self explanatory.
- commonersense 14y ago
  HN Policy Amendment: All Facebook announced weddings can be posted on HN using links to Facebook. Disclosure: HN users who login to Facebook will be tracked according to Facebook's policies. This HN Policy Amendment does not imply that HN staff themselves will be logging in to Facebook.
- InclinedPlane 14y ago
  It might have something to do with the fact that the guy who invented facebook is using it to announce his marriage.

jvrossb 14y ago

Rules don't exist to for their own sake, they are an imperfect way of formalizing what would otherwise have to left to common sense. But sometimes, common sense obviously trumps the rules. Incidentally, I suspect most bureaucracies emerge from a cargo-cultist/priest of a lost religion mentality where rules are enforced for their own sake without any insight or thought into what the rules were trying to achieve in the first place.

calvin09 14y ago

waaaaahhhh.. Can some one get this loser a life?