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Not sure why this is flagged? One of the largest social media platforms in the industry changed ownership, its user base is noticing an unexplained change in fu

Not sure why this is flagged? One of the largest social media platforms in the industry changed ownership, its user base is noticing an unexplained change in functionality? Surely that warrants a discussion among tech people?

saubeidl 8mo ago
There is a certain proto-fascist contingent here that sees it to their duty to stifle all discussion critical of the regime.
- Schmerika 8mo ago
  And there are people who own and run this website with extremely aligned interests. Altman and Thiel have long had YC connections (obv); and for the last year or so Garry Tan and PG have been full-throatedly cheerleading Musk and DOGE on their Twitter pages. Then there's the many connections between YC and the 'defense' industry; you know, the one making billions of dollars from wars that people speak out about on social media. It's very easy to explain why posts get flagged here. It's a lot harder to digest why they don't get unflagged. Especially when all the posts about it are quickly removed, every single one.
  - progbits 8mo ago
    Cue the usual dang copypasta how there is no evidence of flag brigading, and how they "moderate less", and so on.
    - Schmerika 8mo ago
      Yep. Followed by the usual sycophantic support: "You're doing a great job dang, we all love you so don't worry about these cranks", and "Well I'VE never noticed any censorship so it obviously doesn't exist" (Yeah dude that's how it works lol).
    - ryandrake 8mo ago
      To be fair, dang's position has consistently been (and he posted as such yesterday[1]) that the flag brigading comes from two distinct groups: 1. Users who don't want to see "politics" and 2. Users who are partisan and want to hide politics they don't like. My view is that these are essentially the same group. "Not wanting to see politics" is itself just a partisan view in favor of whatever the Status Quo currently is. So if you're going through and flagging articles describing wrongdoing or calling for change, because they are "political," then you're just operating in the service of whoever is currently in power. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46771917 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46771917
      - progbits 8mo ago
        Agreed. Given the consistency and speed of flags though, I don't think #2 is just "organic" flagging.
        Jensson 8mo ago
        > Given the consistency and speed of flags though, I don't think #2 is just "organic" flagging. Thousands of people view these very quickly once they hit the frontpage, its enough 0.1% of those are willing to flag to see consistent near instant flagging.
      - Jensson 8mo ago
        > My view is that these are essentially the same group. "Not wanting to see politics" is itself just a partisan view in favor of whatever the Status Quo currently is. So if you're going through and flagging articles describing wrongdoing or calling for change, because they are "political," then you're just operating in the service of whoever is currently in power. But some people do that regardless who is currently in power, what do you call that? I'd call that "not wanting to see politics" and not being partisan.
    - wswope 8mo ago
      Can’t make a man understand something when his paycheck depends on him not understanding it. Dan sold out his moral compass.
- tempodox 8mo ago
  By now it’s confirmed full-blown fascism. Nothing proto about it.
dudefeliciano 8mo ago
these topics are controversial for people who support the current US government, they don't want to see it on their tech-news website (even though it's called hacker news, the spirit of the hacker manifesto is not alive here). Funnily enough, these flagged topics seem to spark a lot of conversation, and the voices of the government supporters are not heard here...So they just flag and move on, not even trying to defend their position
- zombot 8mo ago
  > not even trying to defend their position Hard to do when your position is essentially indefensible.
  - atomic_reed 8mo ago
    It is defensible. First, there is no evidence that they were censored because of keywords. Crazily enough, they may have been censored by god (or simply datacenter issues). Second, if there were such censorship features, then it shows that the US was right to buy TikTok. Imagine if National Socialists or those who are against liberty and justice had access to such features. Third, we are in a time of great danger, thus requiring great actions. What is the danger? It cannot be explained. What is the solution? To re-use the past. In early 1000s, the Germans were both holy and roman and justly created living space in the East. Hundreds of years later, we started Manifest Destiny. Similar to 南进 of the Vietnamese, we should recognize the job has not been finished. This requires rewriting history. While China existed for 5000 years, the US has existed for 6000. The Jewish, Christian, and American spirits merged together, and people of 100s of different dialects were pulled into the area, and the wave of freedom moved back abroad. This was the formation of the American language, a true melting pot. While many Americans have genetic ties to Europe, they have one difference, a spirit that is free and mobile. Unlike the Europeans who stay in one place and look down at the wandering Roma, the Americans are inherently mobile, experiencing new ways at life. This is the Spirit and what allows for Americans to manifest the destiny of the world from East to West.
- thunky 8mo ago
  > the voices of the government supporters are not heard here This is sad to me because I really want to hear the other perspective, and there is no place that exists (that I know of) for people who disagree with each other to have a real conversation. Nothing left but echo chambers. But I think HN falls into this trap because the down vote button is used when people disagree with the other person, which imo is a misappropriation and what prevents people from sharing unpopular opinions.
rsynnott 8mo ago
Minihands's fans tend to flag anything unfavourable to Dear Leader.
NoGravitas 8mo ago
It's flagged because so much of the HN userbase are aligned with the SV oligarchs that took over TikTok-US, and don't want them criticized in public.
pickleglitch 8mo ago
There is another post about this exact topic on the front page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46779809 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46779809 So I can only assume this one is flagged because the source is pride.com Make of that what you will.
- dudefeliciano 8mo ago
  your link was posted a few hours after this post was flagged
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
sgnelson 8mo ago
fascists are going to fascist. Dang et al will just look away and say. "we don't have any power over what our users do. Email us to let us know." Because apparently the mods don't visit their own website? They'll just keep their heads buried in the sand. Everything is fine as long as that sweet ycombinator check keeps getting cashed.

saubeidl 8mo ago

There is a certain proto-fascist contingent here that sees it to their duty to stifle all discussion critical of the regime.

Schmerika 8mo ago
And there are people who own and run this website with extremely aligned interests. Altman and Thiel have long had YC connections (obv); and for the last year or so Garry Tan and PG have been full-throatedly cheerleading Musk and DOGE on their Twitter pages. Then there's the many connections between YC and the 'defense' industry; you know, the one making billions of dollars from wars that people speak out about on social media. It's very easy to explain why posts get flagged here. It's a lot harder to digest why they don't get unflagged. Especially when all the posts about it are quickly removed, every single one.
- progbits 8mo ago
  Cue the usual dang copypasta how there is no evidence of flag brigading, and how they "moderate less", and so on.
  - Schmerika 8mo ago
    Yep. Followed by the usual sycophantic support: "You're doing a great job dang, we all love you so don't worry about these cranks", and "Well I'VE never noticed any censorship so it obviously doesn't exist" (Yeah dude that's how it works lol).
  - ryandrake 8mo ago
    To be fair, dang's position has consistently been (and he posted as such yesterday[1]) that the flag brigading comes from two distinct groups: 1. Users who don't want to see "politics" and 2. Users who are partisan and want to hide politics they don't like. My view is that these are essentially the same group. "Not wanting to see politics" is itself just a partisan view in favor of whatever the Status Quo currently is. So if you're going through and flagging articles describing wrongdoing or calling for change, because they are "political," then you're just operating in the service of whoever is currently in power. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46771917 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46771917
    - progbits 8mo ago
      Agreed. Given the consistency and speed of flags though, I don't think #2 is just "organic" flagging.
      - Jensson 8mo ago
        > Given the consistency and speed of flags though, I don't think #2 is just "organic" flagging. Thousands of people view these very quickly once they hit the frontpage, its enough 0.1% of those are willing to flag to see consistent near instant flagging.
    - Jensson 8mo ago
      > My view is that these are essentially the same group. "Not wanting to see politics" is itself just a partisan view in favor of whatever the Status Quo currently is. So if you're going through and flagging articles describing wrongdoing or calling for change, because they are "political," then you're just operating in the service of whoever is currently in power. But some people do that regardless who is currently in power, what do you call that? I'd call that "not wanting to see politics" and not being partisan.
  - wswope 8mo ago
    Can’t make a man understand something when his paycheck depends on him not understanding it. Dan sold out his moral compass.
tempodox 8mo ago
By now it’s confirmed full-blown fascism. Nothing proto about it.

dudefeliciano 8mo ago

these topics are controversial for people who support the current US government, they don't want to see it on their tech-news website (even though it's called hacker news, the spirit of the hacker manifesto is not alive here). Funnily enough, these flagged topics seem to spark a lot of conversation, and the voices of the government supporters are not heard here...So they just flag and move on, not even trying to defend their position

zombot 8mo ago
> not even trying to defend their position Hard to do when your position is essentially indefensible.
- atomic_reed 8mo ago
  It is defensible. First, there is no evidence that they were censored because of keywords. Crazily enough, they may have been censored by god (or simply datacenter issues). Second, if there were such censorship features, then it shows that the US was right to buy TikTok. Imagine if National Socialists or those who are against liberty and justice had access to such features. Third, we are in a time of great danger, thus requiring great actions. What is the danger? It cannot be explained. What is the solution? To re-use the past. In early 1000s, the Germans were both holy and roman and justly created living space in the East. Hundreds of years later, we started Manifest Destiny. Similar to 南进 of the Vietnamese, we should recognize the job has not been finished. This requires rewriting history. While China existed for 5000 years, the US has existed for 6000. The Jewish, Christian, and American spirits merged together, and people of 100s of different dialects were pulled into the area, and the wave of freedom moved back abroad. This was the formation of the American language, a true melting pot. While many Americans have genetic ties to Europe, they have one difference, a spirit that is free and mobile. Unlike the Europeans who stay in one place and look down at the wandering Roma, the Americans are inherently mobile, experiencing new ways at life. This is the Spirit and what allows for Americans to manifest the destiny of the world from East to West.
thunky 8mo ago
> the voices of the government supporters are not heard here This is sad to me because I really want to hear the other perspective, and there is no place that exists (that I know of) for people who disagree with each other to have a real conversation. Nothing left but echo chambers. But I think HN falls into this trap because the down vote button is used when people disagree with the other person, which imo is a misappropriation and what prevents people from sharing unpopular opinions.

rsynnott 8mo ago

Minihands's fans tend to flag anything unfavourable to Dear Leader.

NoGravitas 8mo ago

It's flagged because so much of the HN userbase are aligned with the SV oligarchs that took over TikTok-US, and don't want them criticized in public.

pickleglitch 8mo ago

There is another post about this exact topic on the front page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46779809 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46779809 So I can only assume this one is flagged because the source is pride.com Make of that what you will.

dudefeliciano 8mo ago
your link was posted a few hours after this post was flagged
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]

sgnelson 8mo ago

fascists are going to fascist. Dang et al will just look away and say. "we don't have any power over what our users do. Email us to let us know." Because apparently the mods don't visit their own website? They'll just keep their heads buried in the sand. Everything is fine as long as that sweet ycombinator check keeps getting cashed.