3 ms·

It would be really, really great when the open Israel hate and borderline Antisemitism displayed in many threads related to these topics could be moderated to t

It would be really, really great when the open Israel hate and borderline Antisemitism displayed in many threads related to these topics could be moderated to the same tune. It's the same hate that has killed Jewish Americans in the past year. Many of these replies are very low on facts, very high on emotionally loaded subjective opinions. It's a challenging task as BBC and so many more Western media outlets had to retract and amend their own faulty reporting over the last few months, but if we're talking about the spirit of the site, everyone should be held accountable equally. Example at the top of this thread: > Why is the president of the United States protecting a blood soaked war criminal? https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=46006941&goto=item%3Fid%3D46003778%2346006941 https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=46006941&goto=item%3Fi...

dredmorbius 11mo ago
HN mods act on behaviour rather than position. If someone's violating HN's guidelines (<https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>) or FAQ (<https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html>), flag the post or comment. Both links are found at the bottom of most HN pages. If there's an egregious violation, email mods at hn@ycombinator.com. Most moderation (that is, votes and flags) are by members of the site, mods step in very rarely, usually guided by flags or emails as noted above. Member actions may well be driven by factors differing from those of mods, part of the moderators' job is to correct for those biases.
- thenaturalist 11mo ago
  This reads like a sleek way to weasel oneself out of responsibility. So what you're effectively implying is that the court of public (in Israel instances very clearly biased) opinion rules the site? So guidelines for thee (Israel supporters) but not for me (Israel haters and Antisemites). A famous poem from Martin Niemöller, who actually lived through facism comes to mind: First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
  - dredmorbius 11mo ago
    It can be frustrating, and I'd engaged for years on HN with the assumption that The Mods were Biased Against My Point of View. This itself is a common trope: <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20biased%20against%20side&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...> and <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20Passionate%20partisans%20&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...>. I've changed that opinion, both by observing their behaviour (you can follow both your own, and any users' threads, on HN, including mods, which I review fairly frequently), and overall site characteristics (see: <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adredmorbius%20%22front%20page%22%20activity&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...> and <https://toot.cat/deck/tags/HackerNewsAnalytics https://toot.cat/deck/tags/HackerNewsAnalytics> and related). I do have some remaining concerns that HN's policies can amount to tone-policing, and that issues which are themselves long-standing or recurring, regardless of other merits, tend to trip across the guidelines to a greater extent, which imposes a natural bias against them. That said, if you do want to discuss a volatile, persistent, or repetitive issue, you'll find far greater success if you do so with HN's principles and guidelines in mind. It might possibly also make you a more efficient advocate and debater.

dredmorbius 11mo ago

HN mods act on behaviour rather than position. If someone's violating HN's guidelines (<https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>) or FAQ (<https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html>), flag the post or comment. Both links are found at the bottom of most HN pages. If there's an egregious violation, email mods at hn@ycombinator.com. Most moderation (that is, votes and flags) are by members of the site, mods step in very rarely, usually guided by flags or emails as noted above. Member actions may well be driven by factors differing from those of mods, part of the moderators' job is to correct for those biases.

thenaturalist 11mo ago
This reads like a sleek way to weasel oneself out of responsibility. So what you're effectively implying is that the court of public (in Israel instances very clearly biased) opinion rules the site? So guidelines for thee (Israel supporters) but not for me (Israel haters and Antisemites). A famous poem from Martin Niemöller, who actually lived through facism comes to mind: First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me
- dredmorbius 11mo ago
  It can be frustrating, and I'd engaged for years on HN with the assumption that The Mods were Biased Against My Point of View. This itself is a common trope: <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20biased%20against%20side&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...> and <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20Passionate%20partisans%20&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...>. I've changed that opinion, both by observing their behaviour (you can follow both your own, and any users' threads, on HN, including mods, which I review fairly frequently), and overall site characteristics (see: <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adredmorbius%20%22front%20page%22%20activity&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...> and <https://toot.cat/deck/tags/HackerNewsAnalytics https://toot.cat/deck/tags/HackerNewsAnalytics> and related). I do have some remaining concerns that HN's policies can amount to tone-policing, and that issues which are themselves long-standing or recurring, regardless of other merits, tend to trip across the guidelines to a greater extent, which imposes a natural bias against them. That said, if you do want to discuss a volatile, persistent, or repetitive issue, you'll find far greater success if you do so with HN's principles and guidelines in mind. It might possibly also make you a more efficient advocate and debater.