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"Sir, this is a Wendy's" is the short of it. Hacker News is a social news website focusing on computer science and entrepreneurship. Just because the Current

"Sir, this is a Wendy's" is the short of it. Hacker News is a social news website focusing on computer science and entrepreneurship. Just because the Current Thing is the Most Important Thing That Ever Happened, it doesn't make it an appropriate topic for HN. There's always something historically important going on. Anyone can go on to one of the hundreds of places not dedicated to tech news and entrepreneurship, of which there is effectively one on the Internet.

ignoramous 2y ago
> "Sir, this is a Wendy's" is the short of it. Nah Sire, that ain't it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39161344 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39161344
- nataliste 2y ago
  >I'm afraid the answer is boringly straightforward: users flagged those articles, and either we didn't see them or we chose not to turn off the flags. Most likely we didn't see them. The usual pattern is that flags come from a 'coalition' of users: some because they hold opposing views, while others just think the story doesn't belong on HN. Maybe they think it's off-topic or otherwise against the site guidelines, or they think the story has already been covered a lot recently, or who knows what. In other words, "Sir, this is a Wendy's."
  - ignoramous 2y ago
    A cabal of motivated users burying a story isn't analogous to an employed staff of a restaurant refusing to serve anything but what's on the menu.
    - nataliste 2y ago
      "Sir, this is a Wendy's" is unrelated to ordering off-menu. It's a response where someone delivers an overly detailed or unrelated speech in a setting where it is entirely inappropriate—such as a fast-food restaurant like Wendy's. It's a brusque reminder to someone that their current behavior or conversation is out of place and irrelevant to the current context. It is often used when someone is being overly dramatic, off-topic, or unnecessarily complex in a simple or straightforward situation.
      - ignoramous 2y ago
        > unrelated ... inappropriate ... out of place ... irrelevant ... off-topic ... unnecessarily complex This article was none of that and the fact that it was unflagged (by mods or otherwise) puts this subthread to bed.
        nataliste 2y ago
        Note the original comment: >Can HN moderators explain why and how the majority of anti Israel posts get flagged quickly ? If HN is pro israel, moderators should update the website guidelines to explicitly say that. This is not about this story. It asserts that dang is "pro-Israel" and that HN has a group of Zionists that flag anything anti-Israel. dang stated why these stories get flagged and generally by whom, which had a banal answer. There's not a conspiracy against anti-Israel posts, there's a group of people that want certain hysterical people to stop polluting the commons with their off-topic divisive and histrionic screeds.
        ignoramous 2y ago
        > hysterical people stop polluting commons with ... divisive and histrionic screeds What a vile thing to say. Oft times the world is a reflection of self, in that, we are what we accuse others of.
        nataliste 2y ago
        Sir, this is a Wendy's.
        ignoramous 2y ago
        Nah, that ain't it: https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/ https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/
    - dang 2y ago
      Probably best to avoid charged words like 'cabal' on this of all topics. I haven't seen any evidence that the flags aren't in good faith, including from users who feel the most passionately, and there are many of those on both sides.
      - ignoramous 2y ago
        You're right. Thanks.
loceng 2y ago
Substantive stories are allowed on HN - therefore it's not against the site guidelines, unless you think genocide/war crime charges being levied against Israel and Hamas' leaders is common run-of-the-mill, not once-in-a-lifetime politics?
- nataliste 2y ago
  >Substantive stories are allowed on HN - therefore it's not against the site guidelines, unless you think [...] is common run-of-the-mill, not once-in-a-lifetime politics? This is the rhetorical frame that has been used for the last decade to justify diluting topical spaces with thinly veiled culture warring by the extremely online for whom every new media cycle is another entirely new Armageddon. I respectfully disagree with the notion that every current outrage or controversy should be treated as the paramount issue necessitating everyone's unquestioning attention in unrelated spaces.
  - sangnoir 2y ago
    Participation in culture war skirmishes is not mandatory - I don't read the vast majority of links or discussions posted to HN. Ironically, preemptively preventing any discussion on topics you don't like on ideological grounds, by means of flagging is partaking in the culture wars.
- ipaddr 2y ago
  Yes it's common unimportant news that ranks below the people that were murdered in Afghanistan by a terrorist attack.
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago
  Politics is considered off-topic, by the site guidelines.
  - dang 2y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4922426 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4922426

ignoramous 2y ago

> "Sir, this is a Wendy's" is the short of it. Nah Sire, that ain't it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39161344 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39161344

nataliste 2y ago
>I'm afraid the answer is boringly straightforward: users flagged those articles, and either we didn't see them or we chose not to turn off the flags. Most likely we didn't see them. The usual pattern is that flags come from a 'coalition' of users: some because they hold opposing views, while others just think the story doesn't belong on HN. Maybe they think it's off-topic or otherwise against the site guidelines, or they think the story has already been covered a lot recently, or who knows what. In other words, "Sir, this is a Wendy's."
- ignoramous 2y ago
  A cabal of motivated users burying a story isn't analogous to an employed staff of a restaurant refusing to serve anything but what's on the menu.
  - nataliste 2y ago
    "Sir, this is a Wendy's" is unrelated to ordering off-menu. It's a response where someone delivers an overly detailed or unrelated speech in a setting where it is entirely inappropriate—such as a fast-food restaurant like Wendy's. It's a brusque reminder to someone that their current behavior or conversation is out of place and irrelevant to the current context. It is often used when someone is being overly dramatic, off-topic, or unnecessarily complex in a simple or straightforward situation.
    - ignoramous 2y ago
      > unrelated ... inappropriate ... out of place ... irrelevant ... off-topic ... unnecessarily complex This article was none of that and the fact that it was unflagged (by mods or otherwise) puts this subthread to bed.
      - nataliste 2y ago
        Note the original comment: >Can HN moderators explain why and how the majority of anti Israel posts get flagged quickly ? If HN is pro israel, moderators should update the website guidelines to explicitly say that. This is not about this story. It asserts that dang is "pro-Israel" and that HN has a group of Zionists that flag anything anti-Israel. dang stated why these stories get flagged and generally by whom, which had a banal answer. There's not a conspiracy against anti-Israel posts, there's a group of people that want certain hysterical people to stop polluting the commons with their off-topic divisive and histrionic screeds.
        ignoramous 2y ago
        > hysterical people stop polluting commons with ... divisive and histrionic screeds What a vile thing to say. Oft times the world is a reflection of self, in that, we are what we accuse others of.
        nataliste 2y ago
        Sir, this is a Wendy's.
        ignoramous 2y ago
        Nah, that ain't it: https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/ https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/
  - dang 2y ago
    Probably best to avoid charged words like 'cabal' on this of all topics. I haven't seen any evidence that the flags aren't in good faith, including from users who feel the most passionately, and there are many of those on both sides.
    - ignoramous 2y ago
      You're right. Thanks.

loceng 2y ago

Substantive stories are allowed on HN - therefore it's not against the site guidelines, unless you think genocide/war crime charges being levied against Israel and Hamas' leaders is common run-of-the-mill, not once-in-a-lifetime politics?

nataliste 2y ago
>Substantive stories are allowed on HN - therefore it's not against the site guidelines, unless you think [...] is common run-of-the-mill, not once-in-a-lifetime politics? This is the rhetorical frame that has been used for the last decade to justify diluting topical spaces with thinly veiled culture warring by the extremely online for whom every new media cycle is another entirely new Armageddon. I respectfully disagree with the notion that every current outrage or controversy should be treated as the paramount issue necessitating everyone's unquestioning attention in unrelated spaces.
- sangnoir 2y ago
  Participation in culture war skirmishes is not mandatory - I don't read the vast majority of links or discussions posted to HN. Ironically, preemptively preventing any discussion on topics you don't like on ideological grounds, by means of flagging is partaking in the culture wars.
ipaddr 2y ago
Yes it's common unimportant news that ranks below the people that were murdered in Afghanistan by a terrorist attack.
AnimalMuppet 2y ago
Politics is considered off-topic, by the site guidelines.
- dang 2y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4922426 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4922426