4 ms·

> HN also isn't user moderated with a structure allowing users to make a decision like that. Sure, it is. Unless you are a fairly new user, the 'flag' link is

> HN also isn't user moderated with a structure allowing users to make a decision like that. Sure, it is. Unless you are a fairly new user, the 'flag' link is right there under the title. I have no idea what dang / YC feels about the choice to flag every link to twitter. Maybe they would offer new guidance to us all if everyone started doing it. It is their site, after all. But barring that, yes, HN absolutely has user-driven moderation where we all can make that choice.

johnneville 2y ago
in my experience, flagging leaves the post up and just adds the flag indicator. i guess i assumed that dang reviewed these manually at some point. is there a threshold of number of flags where the post becomes dead automatically?
- codingdave 2y ago
  I definitely see posts go insta-dead when flagging, sometimes. But I have zero insights into the details of any algorithms behind it. And I truly have mixed feelings about this all. Shutting down every link seems extreme when it is an individual person who has crossed the line. But when that person owns and controls the tone of the site... we need to ask ourselves whether we are trying to stifle their hate speech or just being vindictive to someone who is offensive?
  - meristohm 2y ago
    I see you giving Elon "Osturf" Musk some grace. Yes, he is just an individual person. Yes, he has access to massive amounts of resources; he plays the game of Neoliberal (that's Hayek's term) Capitalism handily. If we were still in the Keynesian model (also based on colonial looting, but the discrepancy in rise of the proverbial boats is less) we might not yet be in as obvious an oligarchy, and more of us might be involved in representative democracy. Now though, it might be too late to do much by whether or not any of us use his platform, as he can just lie about its popularity and vote in other ways with his many dollars. Depending on what enough of us actually want for our future and that of the next hundred generations of humans, there are other actions to consider. Move fast and break things?
- verdverm 2y ago
  A lot of people have tried to game HN for various reasons (scams, overt marketing, job verts, political statements, even just trying to make it to the front page) From what I can tell, there are a number of metrics at play from account age, IP address, account history, pattern recognition like up voting or flagging rings. I'm not sure to the extent it is largely rule based or data driven, I think dang probably keeps it opaque to prevent workarounds from knowing how the system works.

johnneville 2y ago

in my experience, flagging leaves the post up and just adds the flag indicator. i guess i assumed that dang reviewed these manually at some point. is there a threshold of number of flags where the post becomes dead automatically?

codingdave 2y ago
I definitely see posts go insta-dead when flagging, sometimes. But I have zero insights into the details of any algorithms behind it. And I truly have mixed feelings about this all. Shutting down every link seems extreme when it is an individual person who has crossed the line. But when that person owns and controls the tone of the site... we need to ask ourselves whether we are trying to stifle their hate speech or just being vindictive to someone who is offensive?
- meristohm 2y ago
  I see you giving Elon "Osturf" Musk some grace. Yes, he is just an individual person. Yes, he has access to massive amounts of resources; he plays the game of Neoliberal (that's Hayek's term) Capitalism handily. If we were still in the Keynesian model (also based on colonial looting, but the discrepancy in rise of the proverbial boats is less) we might not yet be in as obvious an oligarchy, and more of us might be involved in representative democracy. Now though, it might be too late to do much by whether or not any of us use his platform, as he can just lie about its popularity and vote in other ways with his many dollars. Depending on what enough of us actually want for our future and that of the next hundred generations of humans, there are other actions to consider. Move fast and break things?
verdverm 2y ago
A lot of people have tried to game HN for various reasons (scams, overt marketing, job verts, political statements, even just trying to make it to the front page) From what I can tell, there are a number of metrics at play from account age, IP address, account history, pattern recognition like up voting or flagging rings. I'm not sure to the extent it is largely rule based or data driven, I think dang probably keeps it opaque to prevent workarounds from knowing how the system works.