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Are there any YC companies competing directly in the space? 42Floors comes to mind, although I believe they are focused exclusively on commercial real estate at

Are there any YC companies competing directly in the space? 42Floors comes to mind, although I believe they are focused exclusively on commercial real estate at the moment. If there is a YC company that competes directly with you, I could see incentive for a mod to suppress your post. </tinfoil hat speculation>

dazbradbury 14y ago
There have been several YC-backed rental/property startups, but it seems a little far-fetched that pg/yc would get admins to suppress competitor stories. I'm sure there are plenty of examples of competitor start-ups reaching, and staying on, the front page that could rule that theory out.
ximeng 14y ago
It's not tinfoil hat speculation. Sharp dropoffs also happened when the story of an AirBNB house being robbed broke. Rather than just seeing one story dropping off we need a way to see every time this happens to make our own minds up over whether it's above board.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- rpm4321 14y ago
  From everything I know about PG and YC, I highly doubt they themselves would take that kind of action unless a post was outright slander. It just seems Nixonian. That said, there is obviously quite a bit of goodwill on HN for PG and YC. You could call it fanboyism if you were feeling uncharitable. To me, that seems a much more likely scenario - an anti-YC submission getting a bunch of flag votes, rather than an intervention by admins.
  - ximeng 14y ago
    Agree, plenty of goodwill from me as well, which is why I was surprised to see a popular voted question about a YC company having trouble suddenly disappear then. Without a good explanation it makes me lose trust in the transparency of HN, whether due to flag votes or direct intervention.
- petercooper 14y ago
  Possibly, though it's not necessarily a mod trying to "suppress" a story. There's probably a social mechanism at play. When posts on HN are flagged, their ranking gets hit a lot. And a reasonable share of people on HN are YC affiliated. Part of the value of YC is a sense of camaraderie and I suspect YC participants are more likely to support/flag posts that are supportive/dismissive of YC related enterprises. It's a bit like if someone posts a big troll post about Ruby. I, and other Rubyists, are more likely to flag it. People who buy into the whole "Ruby community is evil" nonsense are more likely to vote it up.
wavesounds 14y ago
But then why is this post still on the front page?

dazbradbury 14y ago

There have been several YC-backed rental/property startups, but it seems a little far-fetched that pg/yc would get admins to suppress competitor stories. I'm sure there are plenty of examples of competitor start-ups reaching, and staying on, the front page that could rule that theory out.

ximeng 14y ago

It's not tinfoil hat speculation. Sharp dropoffs also happened when the story of an AirBNB house being robbed broke. Rather than just seeing one story dropping off we need a way to see every time this happens to make our own minds up over whether it's above board.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
rpm4321 14y ago
From everything I know about PG and YC, I highly doubt they themselves would take that kind of action unless a post was outright slander. It just seems Nixonian. That said, there is obviously quite a bit of goodwill on HN for PG and YC. You could call it fanboyism if you were feeling uncharitable. To me, that seems a much more likely scenario - an anti-YC submission getting a bunch of flag votes, rather than an intervention by admins.
- ximeng 14y ago
  Agree, plenty of goodwill from me as well, which is why I was surprised to see a popular voted question about a YC company having trouble suddenly disappear then. Without a good explanation it makes me lose trust in the transparency of HN, whether due to flag votes or direct intervention.
petercooper 14y ago
Possibly, though it's not necessarily a mod trying to "suppress" a story. There's probably a social mechanism at play. When posts on HN are flagged, their ranking gets hit a lot. And a reasonable share of people on HN are YC affiliated. Part of the value of YC is a sense of camaraderie and I suspect YC participants are more likely to support/flag posts that are supportive/dismissive of YC related enterprises. It's a bit like if someone posts a big troll post about Ruby. I, and other Rubyists, are more likely to flag it. People who buy into the whole "Ruby community is evil" nonsense are more likely to vote it up.

wavesounds 14y ago

But then why is this post still on the front page?