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How HN page rankings really work: you vote stuff up, and then the flag mob and hidden moderators axe right off the front page whatever irritates the pro-capital
by mgunes 13y ago
How HN page rankings really work: you vote stuff up, and then the flag mob and hidden moderators axe right off the front page whatever irritates the pro-capitalist internet-libertarian techno-optimist idelogical sensibilities of the
white male Californian HN hive mind even in the subtlest of ways.
- JonnieCache 13y agoIsn't that the point of this site? That's mainly why I come here, to peer into the collective unconcious of the californian ivy-league portfolio-owning hivemind. It's like a zoo but with tesla owners instead of chimps.
- mgunes 13y agoI don't imply an ideal of neutrality; no online community is ideologically neutral, and neutrality isn't a merit to strive for. It's just that most participants seem to have internalized a supposedly meritocratic "whatever is interesting to good hackers floats to the top" mental model regarding how HN works, when that simply isn't the case. Every online community turns into a self-censoring echo chamber with time, and given its origins and initial purpose, the precise kind of echo chamber that HN has been turned into shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
- phillmv 13y agoThe part that bothers me is that it's not self-censoring. It's being actively censored, and sometimes the motives being the penalization are obnoxious; everything that doesn't directly promote california imperialism gets shunted to the side. I believe it to be uncontroversial that all communities need some moderation, but the lack of transparency or involved around these parts has always made me feel uncomfortable. I distinctly recall some articles on gender inequality in the industry…
- davidgerard 13y agoWell, duh. The actual purpose of HN is as an advertising and recruitment tool for YC. It's certainly not for the benefit of casual commenters like ourselves. I think of it as a more tech-oriented form of television. Possibly one of those high-hundreds cable channels.
- jacalata 13y agoWait, everyone thinks its a clean pure meritocracy but it is actually a complicated system of structural penalties and personal bias that sees specific apparently meritorious posts prevented from reaching the top? That reminds me of something....
- grey-area 13y agoIt's like a zoo but with tesla owners instead of chimps. Very droll :)
- ywyrd 13y agoFunny, we both see the same algorithms, but I see the exact opposite results.
- hsod 13y agoYou don't think "Internet-libertarian" is a good description of the dominant political ideology around here?
- ywyrd 13y agoNo, just as with Slashdot, I see it as very vocal but a definite minority, at least in terms of posts and comments.
- acheron 13y agoThe NSA reactions are superficially libertarian, but other than that, no, I don't see it.
- gcv 13y agoHN is far more coastal-liberal than any flavor of libertarian. With a few exceptions, of course: people favor some policies relating to tech on which the conventional left doesn't have a strong opinion.
- xixi77 13y agoNot sure -- to me it looks like at least the majority of commenters are quite strongly pro-regulation: e.g. look at all the discussions of AirBNB vs. zoning just a few weeks ago, or 23andme more recently. Sure, voter and commenter demographics could be different, but probably not that much.