3 ms·

Huh? Why?

• deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
• CM30 2mo ago
  I've always suspected it's an attempt to defuse flame wars, with the expectation that a lot of comments means a post is highly controversial and stirring up arguments in the comments section.
  • unclebucknasty 2mo ago
    Seems unlikely. Using comment count as an indicator of poor quality discussion would treat topics with intense interest and engaging discussion like flame wars. So, I find this explanation hard to believe, especially given that the mods here are active, and that there are other mechanisms for exposing flame wars (including flagging, down votes, etc).
    • yorwba 2mo ago
      High-quality posts will usually be upvoted by lurkers, ensuring a favorable upvotes-to-comments ratio. But yes, it's a blunt instrument that sometimes has false positives where the mods intervene to turn off the penalty: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20turned%20off%20the%20flamewar%20detector&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
      • unclebucknasty 2mo ago
        >upvotes-to-comments ratio Makes far more sense than comment count alone.