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I don't understand. I took the time to write this post because it's something that is important to me as a person in the tech community. It's obviously somethi

I don't understand. I took the time to write this post because it's something that is important to me as a person in the tech community. It's obviously something that impacts many people in this line of work, otherwise this community would not have such strong opinions about it. Does Hacker News suppress other topics or just gender bias? This is so hurtful.

res0nat0r 14y ago
HN is (trying) to stay focused on technology and startup related posts, not cultural posts like these.
chc 14y ago
> Does Hacker News suppress other topics or just gender bias? Hacker News does not suppress this topic. But this topic has been very well covered, so the bar for what constitutes a novel contribution is fairly high. There are also a lot of "Your rights online" stories on Hacker News. A lot of these get flagged into oblivion as well. This isn't because we don't care about our rights, but that the topic is sufficiently well-covered that it takes an exceptional story to actually bring something new to the conversation instead of just flaring up old arguments. It isn't that we don't think the topic your blog post is important. It is. But just because a topic is important doesn't mean every article on that topic will be widely upvoted. In general, it's actually harder to rank with an "important" topic because you have a lot of competition and there is only so much space for stories. So, please don't take it personally or interpret this as people suppressing the topic. It's just Hacker News trying to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high. We don't have very good organizational tools here, so we kind of have to resort to blunt weapons that can look overly harsh when you're on the receiving end.
wmf 14y ago
I want to second chc's comment that something can be important and impact many people, yet still not be news. (Also, HN meta-discussions or any articles about Bitcoin tend to get flagged into oblivion as well. I guess people are just tired of reading that stuff.)
protomyth 14y ago
How long did you expect the article to stay on the front page? Which story currently on the front page should be replaced by your article? As I write this it has 41 pts and 121 comments - that seems like an article that got some attention.
deleted 14y ago
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mpyne 14y ago
I truly don't mean to be snarky but I don't think taking the time to write up a post, even about something you care deeply about, is sufficient justification on its own for HN to care about a topic. That is, if the topic is important and valuable to HN it will be valuable even if you didn't necessarily care so much about the topic.
- mwetzler 14y ago
  Agreed with you that not all stories need be shared. However, this one made it to the front page because it generated a lot of conversation. In fact, people cared so much that it set off the flame detector and it sank the post. That's sad, because there was good discussion going about objectification in marketing, and if the tech industry should be held to a higher standard as compared to other industries.

res0nat0r 14y ago

HN is (trying) to stay focused on technology and startup related posts, not cultural posts like these.

chc 14y ago

> Does Hacker News suppress other topics or just gender bias? Hacker News does not suppress this topic. But this topic has been very well covered, so the bar for what constitutes a novel contribution is fairly high. There are also a lot of "Your rights online" stories on Hacker News. A lot of these get flagged into oblivion as well. This isn't because we don't care about our rights, but that the topic is sufficiently well-covered that it takes an exceptional story to actually bring something new to the conversation instead of just flaring up old arguments. It isn't that we don't think the topic your blog post is important. It is. But just because a topic is important doesn't mean every article on that topic will be widely upvoted. In general, it's actually harder to rank with an "important" topic because you have a lot of competition and there is only so much space for stories. So, please don't take it personally or interpret this as people suppressing the topic. It's just Hacker News trying to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high. We don't have very good organizational tools here, so we kind of have to resort to blunt weapons that can look overly harsh when you're on the receiving end.

wmf 14y ago

I want to second chc's comment that something can be important and impact many people, yet still not be news. (Also, HN meta-discussions or any articles about Bitcoin tend to get flagged into oblivion as well. I guess people are just tired of reading that stuff.)

protomyth 14y ago

How long did you expect the article to stay on the front page? Which story currently on the front page should be replaced by your article? As I write this it has 41 pts and 121 comments - that seems like an article that got some attention.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

mpyne 14y ago

I truly don't mean to be snarky but I don't think taking the time to write up a post, even about something you care deeply about, is sufficient justification on its own for HN to care about a topic. That is, if the topic is important and valuable to HN it will be valuable even if you didn't necessarily care so much about the topic.

mwetzler 14y ago
Agreed with you that not all stories need be shared. However, this one made it to the front page because it generated a lot of conversation. In fact, people cared so much that it set off the flame detector and it sank the post. That's sad, because there was good discussion going about objectification in marketing, and if the tech industry should be held to a higher standard as compared to other industries.