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You've never submitted anything before, but now was the perfect time to pile on and post some more Musk related bait. Because there isn't enough of that already

You've never submitted anything before, but now was the perfect time to pile on and post some more Musk related bait. Because there isn't enough of that already? I wouldn't normally flag that because it's not off topic, but there's just too much boring Elon Musk spam. The HN feed is clogged with redundant crap. The mass flagging is justified, it's within the site's rules, and it keeps the front page interesting. Keep flagging, my dudes.

thrance 2y ago
I feel like the unprecedentedness of the situation regarding what Musk is currently doing warrants at least this level of attention and scrutiny. As it is closely related to tech in general, I don't see it as too out of place on HN. Furthermore, I think an enforcement of a literal reading of HN's rules would be no fun at all, and indeed, these rules are not enforced that way, usually.
- elpocko 2y ago
  Yes they are always enforced that way. Redundant and off-topic content is always handled like this; a reasonable amount is allowed, the rest gets flagged. There's several huge threads discussing Musk/DOGE on HN, dang even said it's the most discussed topic ever on HN. The redundant ones get flagged for good reason. Politics in general is off-topic and therefore also flagged by many users. What you're seeing is a justified reaction from bored and annoyed users. My HN feed is at least 50% Musk and DOGE. That's insane. IMO there should be a pinned "mega"thread on the frontpage. That's not gonna happen, but it would resolve the conflict and prevent most of the spam.
- palmfacehn 2y ago
  Without characterizing you personally as an alarmist, every alarmist or apocalyptic take is characterized as an emergency or unprecedented. Yet in most every case, the predictions of doom were false. Irrational fear is used to stir up hysteria. I don't know that this is specific to the HN guidelines, but hysterical partisan doom is what I see, from my own subjective interpretation. When I try to discuss specifics, the discussion generally derails into derangement.
insane_dreamer 2y ago
there's a lot of posts about Elon because there's a lot going on involving Elon -- new stuff happening on a daily basis -- that has a major impact (irrespective of whether readers agree with Elon or not) so yeah, highly relevant, whether you think it's boring or not
- elpocko 2y ago
  It's not just me who flags it. Politics is off topic and gets flagged, whether you think it's relevant or not. Reposting the same crap 100 times is not going to help. Why not discuss it elsewhere because it's clearly not wanted here.
  - insane_dreamer 2y ago
    What Elon and DOGE are doing is not just politics but very relevant technically, whether you think it's relevant or not. Tech used to be mostly separate from politics, which was wonderful, but unfortunately the self-proclaimed uber-engineer Elon decided he wanted to become MOTU, and so here we are. If I flagged everything I thought was boring on HN, I'd be flagging over half the posts. Everyone has a different subset of stuff they find interesting and care about, and can ignore the rest that they think is irrelevant/boring/crap. You don't need to flag stuff you don't find interesting, or "boring" or "crap" as you put it. You can just ignore it. So why flag it? Because it pushes a button you don't like?
    - elpocko 2y ago
      I flag it mostly because a single topic and an insane number of dupes are flooding my feed, making it basically useless. I want to see much less of the off-topic spam; flagging is the only effective way to signal that. So yes, it pushes "a button I don't like." I'm getting tired of explaining this simple thing.

thrance 2y ago

I feel like the unprecedentedness of the situation regarding what Musk is currently doing warrants at least this level of attention and scrutiny. As it is closely related to tech in general, I don't see it as too out of place on HN. Furthermore, I think an enforcement of a literal reading of HN's rules would be no fun at all, and indeed, these rules are not enforced that way, usually.

elpocko 2y ago
Yes they are always enforced that way. Redundant and off-topic content is always handled like this; a reasonable amount is allowed, the rest gets flagged. There's several huge threads discussing Musk/DOGE on HN, dang even said it's the most discussed topic ever on HN. The redundant ones get flagged for good reason. Politics in general is off-topic and therefore also flagged by many users. What you're seeing is a justified reaction from bored and annoyed users. My HN feed is at least 50% Musk and DOGE. That's insane. IMO there should be a pinned "mega"thread on the frontpage. That's not gonna happen, but it would resolve the conflict and prevent most of the spam.
palmfacehn 2y ago
Without characterizing you personally as an alarmist, every alarmist or apocalyptic take is characterized as an emergency or unprecedented. Yet in most every case, the predictions of doom were false. Irrational fear is used to stir up hysteria. I don't know that this is specific to the HN guidelines, but hysterical partisan doom is what I see, from my own subjective interpretation. When I try to discuss specifics, the discussion generally derails into derangement.

insane_dreamer 2y ago

there's a lot of posts about Elon because there's a lot going on involving Elon -- new stuff happening on a daily basis -- that has a major impact (irrespective of whether readers agree with Elon or not) so yeah, highly relevant, whether you think it's boring or not

elpocko 2y ago
It's not just me who flags it. Politics is off topic and gets flagged, whether you think it's relevant or not. Reposting the same crap 100 times is not going to help. Why not discuss it elsewhere because it's clearly not wanted here.
- insane_dreamer 2y ago
  What Elon and DOGE are doing is not just politics but very relevant technically, whether you think it's relevant or not. Tech used to be mostly separate from politics, which was wonderful, but unfortunately the self-proclaimed uber-engineer Elon decided he wanted to become MOTU, and so here we are. If I flagged everything I thought was boring on HN, I'd be flagging over half the posts. Everyone has a different subset of stuff they find interesting and care about, and can ignore the rest that they think is irrelevant/boring/crap. You don't need to flag stuff you don't find interesting, or "boring" or "crap" as you put it. You can just ignore it. So why flag it? Because it pushes a button you don't like?
  - elpocko 2y ago
    I flag it mostly because a single topic and an insane number of dupes are flooding my feed, making it basically useless. I want to see much less of the off-topic spam; flagging is the only effective way to signal that. So yes, it pushes "a button I don't like." I'm getting tired of explaining this simple thing.