3 ms·

dang only unflags posts - you should flag if you feel they're repetitive, or use the second chance pool for better submissions

pvg 2y ago
dang only unflags posts If you think about this for a bit, it'll probably become clear that can't possibly be true and have the HN front page look they way it usually does. Beside the many mod comments that talk about other kinds of story moderation. But it's a rare case of a thing you can totally derive from first principles/minimal observation!
- sadeshmukh 2y ago
  First principles don't equal speculation.
  - pvg 2y ago
    I'm not sure what that means but the important thing is that HN story moderation is not just dang unflagging things.
    - sadeshmukh 2y ago
      That's just you making it up though. Political-adjacent stories today: https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/03/17/british-columbia-introduces-toll-measure-to-counter-tariffs/ https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/03/17/british-colum... https://www.axios.com/2025/03/20/tesla-musk-lutnick https://www.axios.com/2025/03/20/tesla-musk-lutnick https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/20/business/tesla-cybertruck-recall/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/20/business/tesla-cybertruck-rec... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43422350 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43422350 https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/19/dutch_parliament_us_tech/ https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/19/dutch_parliament_us_t... Those aren't even all of them. their associated HN comment pages are filled with political commentary.
      - pvg 2y ago
        I still don't understand your point, sorry. What is the thing I'm supposed to be making up? You said 'dang just unflags things'. This isn't accurate, that's all.
        sadeshmukh 2y ago
        He has said so himself and there are plenty of articles that by your logic would have been flagged. You're the one with the burden of proof of a claim, not me.
        pvg 2y ago
        I think you must have misunderstood something. You can email hn@ycombinator.com and make the case some article or another does not belong on the front page (not original source, a dupe, linkbait, offtopic, whatever). If you're right, that article will be downranked, sometimes right off the front page. People do this all the time. It's the inverse of emailing to make the case something is misflagged. What is true is that almost all [flagged] and [flagged][dead] is from user flags. But that doesn't mean that the only story moderation by moderators is just unflagging.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  My strong suspicion is that mods generally either operate programmatically (that is, adjust site and other weights to favour or deprecate specific sources or stories, tweak flamewar detectors, voting-ring detectors, etc.), follow up on complaints emailed to them, and/or adjust member-based actions (voting, flags, vouches), etc. That leverages their power far more than individually policing stories, though keeping an eye on the 30-odd stories which are on the front page at any time probably fits in somewhere as well.

pvg 2y ago

dang only unflags posts If you think about this for a bit, it'll probably become clear that can't possibly be true and have the HN front page look they way it usually does. Beside the many mod comments that talk about other kinds of story moderation. But it's a rare case of a thing you can totally derive from first principles/minimal observation!

sadeshmukh 2y ago
First principles don't equal speculation.
- pvg 2y ago
  I'm not sure what that means but the important thing is that HN story moderation is not just dang unflagging things.
  - sadeshmukh 2y ago
    That's just you making it up though. Political-adjacent stories today: https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/03/17/british-columbia-introduces-toll-measure-to-counter-tariffs/ https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/03/17/british-colum... https://www.axios.com/2025/03/20/tesla-musk-lutnick https://www.axios.com/2025/03/20/tesla-musk-lutnick https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/20/business/tesla-cybertruck-recall/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/20/business/tesla-cybertruck-rec... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43422350 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43422350 https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/19/dutch_parliament_us_tech/ https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/19/dutch_parliament_us_t... Those aren't even all of them. their associated HN comment pages are filled with political commentary.
    - pvg 2y ago
      I still don't understand your point, sorry. What is the thing I'm supposed to be making up? You said 'dang just unflags things'. This isn't accurate, that's all.
      - sadeshmukh 2y ago
        He has said so himself and there are plenty of articles that by your logic would have been flagged. You're the one with the burden of proof of a claim, not me.
        pvg 2y ago
        I think you must have misunderstood something. You can email hn@ycombinator.com and make the case some article or another does not belong on the front page (not original source, a dupe, linkbait, offtopic, whatever). If you're right, that article will be downranked, sometimes right off the front page. People do this all the time. It's the inverse of emailing to make the case something is misflagged. What is true is that almost all [flagged] and [flagged][dead] is from user flags. But that doesn't mean that the only story moderation by moderators is just unflagging.
dredmorbius 2y ago
My strong suspicion is that mods generally either operate programmatically (that is, adjust site and other weights to favour or deprecate specific sources or stories, tweak flamewar detectors, voting-ring detectors, etc.), follow up on complaints emailed to them, and/or adjust member-based actions (voting, flags, vouches), etc. That leverages their power far more than individually policing stories, though keeping an eye on the 30-odd stories which are on the front page at any time probably fits in somewhere as well.