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I have noticed anything related to Elon Musk, DOGE, and Trump is flagged or very quickly I check back and it has somehow wound up several pages downranked no ma

by erentz 2y ago

I have noticed anything related to Elon Musk, DOGE, and Trump is flagged or very quickly I check back and it has somehow wound up several pages downranked no matter how recent or how many upvotes it was getting. Even articles that are tech in nature like the access to Treasury payments or the stories about the people working for him. I’ve seen the HN mod go out of his way to unflag actual conspiracy theories and yet here we are where real significant news can’t be discussed because of the people involved.

ggm 2y ago
I'm 50/50 on this one. I clicked so I can't deny interest. But, at some level there are plenty of spaces to talk about the politics, and damn few which have the focus on the tech aspects. If the discussion was solidly on IPR, cross border data, comms, IT services, I could see it here. I do think that a cohort of people who probably always felt more aligned to the ethos behind Musk/Theil/Bezos and who resented being "shamed out" might be more willing to show their point of view now. The quickest path for them would be a mixture of tart comment contradicting my view, and flagging top levels (or comments) to get out of the problem quickly. It's ironic perhaps, that the best path for a libertarian is to chill speech, but its quick and effective. (yes, thats probably insulting somebody)
- soupfordummies 2y ago
  I see the "tech not politics" argument on all these insta-flagged posts. I think that the site has evolved from that though. There may be plenty of spaces to talk about politics but I don't know of too many other spaces around the 'net with such a bar of intelligent, informed and articulate folks like this one. I think people gravitate here to see what others have to say that isn't just a name-calling cess pool of ignorance like most of the rest of the net
  - erentz 2y ago
    For me there is the distinction between regular politics and politics that is influenced or touched by technology and its leaders. Regular politics can be discussed elsewhere, that makes sense. But stories involving technology in the government should have a place here, even when the people involved are the likes of Elon Musk. And stories involving tech leaders acting in our government should have a place for discussion here too. But of course what’s happening is deeply destructive and unpopular, so some people who support that agenda want to keep it quiet. Frankly people will hate us forever after this.

by erentz 2y ago

ggm 2y ago

I'm 50/50 on this one. I clicked so I can't deny interest. But, at some level there are plenty of spaces to talk about the politics, and damn few which have the focus on the tech aspects. If the discussion was solidly on IPR, cross border data, comms, IT services, I could see it here. I do think that a cohort of people who probably always felt more aligned to the ethos behind Musk/Theil/Bezos and who resented being "shamed out" might be more willing to show their point of view now. The quickest path for them would be a mixture of tart comment contradicting my view, and flagging top levels (or comments) to get out of the problem quickly. It's ironic perhaps, that the best path for a libertarian is to chill speech, but its quick and effective. (yes, thats probably insulting somebody)

soupfordummies 2y ago
I see the "tech not politics" argument on all these insta-flagged posts. I think that the site has evolved from that though. There may be plenty of spaces to talk about politics but I don't know of too many other spaces around the 'net with such a bar of intelligent, informed and articulate folks like this one. I think people gravitate here to see what others have to say that isn't just a name-calling cess pool of ignorance like most of the rest of the net
- erentz 2y ago
  For me there is the distinction between regular politics and politics that is influenced or touched by technology and its leaders. Regular politics can be discussed elsewhere, that makes sense. But stories involving technology in the government should have a place here, even when the people involved are the likes of Elon Musk. And stories involving tech leaders acting in our government should have a place for discussion here too. But of course what’s happening is deeply destructive and unpopular, so some people who support that agenda want to keep it quiet. Frankly people will hate us forever after this.