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I think there probably are issues in this case that feel quite relevant here this week like federal prosecutorial discretion and the means by which plea bargain

I think there probably are issues in this case that feel quite relevant here this week like federal prosecutorial discretion and the means by which plea bargains are achieved.

davidw 14y ago
So because something is tangentially related to something else here, it's cool, right? Like since Aaron was Jewish, Israeli politics would fly too? I disagree and think that "7 degrees of hacker news" is a fun game but should not seriously be considered a serious or legitimate reason to include some or other article.
- josephlord 14y ago
  I didn't say it was cool but that many people may have felt it was relevant for that reason. At times over the weekend the front page was 75% Aaron related so there are clearly large numbers of people with very strong feelings that his case is important. There is also a strong feeling that prosecutorial conduct was a significant factor in his death making this story potentially relevant. I haven't seen anyone suggesting Israeli politics was in any way related to his death. Personally I neither upvoted this story or downvoted your comment but the fact that this story is on the front page and your comment has been downvoted may indicate that others (shockingly) have different views to yourself and I remind you of the submissions/comments guidelines: > Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did.
  - davidw 14y ago
    My guess is that those upvoting the article and downvoting me are people for whom the issue is very important. Similar people might vote for articles about gay rights, euthanasia, immigration, and so on and so forth. They're all very important topics - probably more important than most of what we discuss here, if you think about it. That's what makes them so good at getting 'airplay'. Keeping them out has to be a conscious decision and effort. There's nothing about this article that "gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." and it might well be considered a "classic flamewar topic", although I suspect mostly a one-sided flamewar here. Still though, it's a charged, political subject. If no one calls out stuff that's off-topic, it's going to continue to be propagated.

I think there probably are issues in this case that feel quite relevant here this week like federal prosecutorial discretion and the means by which plea bargains are achieved.

davidw 14y ago

So because something is tangentially related to something else here, it's cool, right? Like since Aaron was Jewish, Israeli politics would fly too? I disagree and think that "7 degrees of hacker news" is a fun game but should not seriously be considered a serious or legitimate reason to include some or other article.

josephlord 14y ago
I didn't say it was cool but that many people may have felt it was relevant for that reason. At times over the weekend the front page was 75% Aaron related so there are clearly large numbers of people with very strong feelings that his case is important. There is also a strong feeling that prosecutorial conduct was a significant factor in his death making this story potentially relevant. I haven't seen anyone suggesting Israeli politics was in any way related to his death. Personally I neither upvoted this story or downvoted your comment but the fact that this story is on the front page and your comment has been downvoted may indicate that others (shockingly) have different views to yourself and I remind you of the submissions/comments guidelines: > Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did.
- davidw 14y ago
  My guess is that those upvoting the article and downvoting me are people for whom the issue is very important. Similar people might vote for articles about gay rights, euthanasia, immigration, and so on and so forth. They're all very important topics - probably more important than most of what we discuss here, if you think about it. That's what makes them so good at getting 'airplay'. Keeping them out has to be a conscious decision and effort. There's nothing about this article that "gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." and it might well be considered a "classic flamewar topic", although I suspect mostly a one-sided flamewar here. Still though, it's a charged, political subject. If no one calls out stuff that's off-topic, it's going to continue to be propagated.