4 ms·

That may sometimes be the case, but the apparent reason for many, many flags here is that the content is unoriginal. I've flagged plenty of comments that I agr

That may sometimes be the case, but the apparent reason for many, many flags here is that the content is unoriginal. I've flagged plenty of comments that I agreed with on HN because they were dull and hackneyed.

johnb231 1y ago
You are doing it wrong. That's where you should downvote, not flag. Frivolous flagging - as you are doing - could eventually get your account privileges removed.
- thomassmith65 1y ago
  I expressed that poorly. Just 'boring' alone doesn't warrant a flag. There's a subjective element. As an example of something I would flag: a one sentence 'hamas supporter!' or 'genocide denier!' accusation in reply to someone's thoughtful comment. If the same sentiment were expressed in a more original way, I might upvote. Edit: In regard to news stories, sometimes a story breaks and the main and 'new' pages wind up a dozen links to it. At some point, I might flag that. I'm not sure if that's kosher, but there's little purpose in having users wade through identical articles. Maybe @tomhow or @dang can set me straight if they happen to read this.
FirmwareBurner 1y ago
>but the apparent reason for many, many flags here is that the content is unoriginal. Unoriginal to who? What's unoriginal to you might be original to someone else. So your justification for flagging only reinforces the groupthink argument even if you don't realize it.
- thomassmith65 1y ago
  While it's all subjective, other social networks are literally full of memes. Memes are unpopular on HN. Better to have groupthink that is hostile to groupthink than to have memes.
  - FirmwareBurner 1y ago
    I disagree. If a picture is worth more than a thousand words then a meme is worth more than a thousand groupthink slop comments.
    - thomassmith65 1y ago
      Let's say HN were full of edgy comments, memes and flame wars. Some people would like that version of HN more, others less. I probably would close my account. There might not be a version of this site that would please everybody.
      - FirmwareBurner 1y ago
        >Let's say HN were full of edgy comments, memes and flame wars. Ackshually, edgy meme websites with no moderation don't have any flame wars since everyone there is on the same page. Flame wars are in places like HN where moderation is heavily one sided and arbitrary, while pretending to be objective and inclusive.
        thomassmith65 1y ago
        X…
        FirmwareBurner 1y ago
        4chan
        thomassmith65 1y ago
        Our branch of the thread seems to be drifting away from the original issue. Whatever combination of user behaviors it is that HN's moderation promotes, it appeals to some people more than X, 8chan, gab, reddit, etc. Perhaps some of the other sites contain the 20% of comments - with its pearls of contrarian wisdom - that HN flags. There is an audience of people (like me) to whom that absence doesn't matter. I have no interest in wading through posts where there's no minimum bar for garbage. Some people do, and good for them: they can pan for gold on reddit, etc. HN works well, as-is, for a certain segment of the public.

johnb231 1y ago

You are doing it wrong. That's where you should downvote, not flag. Frivolous flagging - as you are doing - could eventually get your account privileges removed.

thomassmith65 1y ago
I expressed that poorly. Just 'boring' alone doesn't warrant a flag. There's a subjective element. As an example of something I would flag: a one sentence 'hamas supporter!' or 'genocide denier!' accusation in reply to someone's thoughtful comment. If the same sentiment were expressed in a more original way, I might upvote. Edit: In regard to news stories, sometimes a story breaks and the main and 'new' pages wind up a dozen links to it. At some point, I might flag that. I'm not sure if that's kosher, but there's little purpose in having users wade through identical articles. Maybe @tomhow or @dang can set me straight if they happen to read this.

FirmwareBurner 1y ago

>but the apparent reason for many, many flags here is that the content is unoriginal. Unoriginal to who? What's unoriginal to you might be original to someone else. So your justification for flagging only reinforces the groupthink argument even if you don't realize it.

thomassmith65 1y ago
While it's all subjective, other social networks are literally full of memes. Memes are unpopular on HN. Better to have groupthink that is hostile to groupthink than to have memes.
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago
  I disagree. If a picture is worth more than a thousand words then a meme is worth more than a thousand groupthink slop comments.
  - thomassmith65 1y ago
    Let's say HN were full of edgy comments, memes and flame wars. Some people would like that version of HN more, others less. I probably would close my account. There might not be a version of this site that would please everybody.
    - FirmwareBurner 1y ago
      >Let's say HN were full of edgy comments, memes and flame wars. Ackshually, edgy meme websites with no moderation don't have any flame wars since everyone there is on the same page. Flame wars are in places like HN where moderation is heavily one sided and arbitrary, while pretending to be objective and inclusive.
      - thomassmith65 1y ago
        X…
        FirmwareBurner 1y ago
        4chan
        thomassmith65 1y ago
        Our branch of the thread seems to be drifting away from the original issue. Whatever combination of user behaviors it is that HN's moderation promotes, it appeals to some people more than X, 8chan, gab, reddit, etc. Perhaps some of the other sites contain the 20% of comments - with its pearls of contrarian wisdom - that HN flags. There is an audience of people (like me) to whom that absence doesn't matter. I have no interest in wading through posts where there's no minimum bar for garbage. Some people do, and good for them: they can pan for gold on reddit, etc. HN works well, as-is, for a certain segment of the public.