4 ms·

Interesting, but not really HN material.

by bcl 13y ago

corin_ 13y ago
I hate to be the guy that copies the HN guidelines (just because it seems to get done so often), but it feels especially appropriate given your choice of the word "interesting". > On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find INTERESTING. That includes more than hacking and startups. (Capitalised emphasis added by me.)
- jerf 13y ago
  This isn't very interesting though; one relatively minor state is closing a prison few of us have ever heard of because one bad actor screwed up. It's not even a useful political story, because such a minor detail is hardly even evidence of anything, let alone proof. The same story as a statistical analysis of nationwide trends would at least be somewhat interesting, this is just an invitation to vent political opinions. For those excitedly piling on about how this proves how awful private prisons are, well, doesn't Abu Ghraib prove even moreso how awful government imprisonment can be? No, no it doesn't.
  - corin_ 13y ago
    My point was that for the person saying it is interesting, they are literally stating why it belongs on HN (based on the official guidelines). Whether or not it actually is interesting is another question, and a subjective one. Personally I see your points about this story specifically, but the flip side is that it creates debate on HN about the concept of private prisons, which at least has the potential to be of interest.
  - liquidgecka 13y ago
    In this case its been a long, long story in Idaho. When CCA took over and built a prison near Boise the prison directors actually asked to be allowed to bid on running the prison since they felt that the state could do it cheaper than CCA. This was denied by the very Republican government. Slowly the attitude has been changing though, and recently the private prison had to admit to falsifying records after several inmates where very much harmed due to CCA's actions. The private prison is now nicknamed "Gladiator school." I find this very interesting because its forcing the hand of a group of the staunchest supporters of privatization. When the very, very far edge moves toward the center its usually cause for curiosity. =)

Interesting, but not really HN material.

by bcl 13y ago

Interesting, but not really HN material.

I hate to be the guy that copies the HN guidelines (just because it seems to get done so often), but it feels especially appropriate given your choice of the word "interesting". > On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find INTERESTING. That includes more than hacking and startups. (Capitalised emphasis added by me.)

jerf 13y ago
This isn't very interesting though; one relatively minor state is closing a prison few of us have ever heard of because one bad actor screwed up. It's not even a useful political story, because such a minor detail is hardly even evidence of anything, let alone proof. The same story as a statistical analysis of nationwide trends would at least be somewhat interesting, this is just an invitation to vent political opinions. For those excitedly piling on about how this proves how awful private prisons are, well, doesn't Abu Ghraib prove even moreso how awful government imprisonment can be? No, no it doesn't.
- corin_ 13y ago
  My point was that for the person saying it is interesting, they are literally stating why it belongs on HN (based on the official guidelines). Whether or not it actually is interesting is another question, and a subjective one. Personally I see your points about this story specifically, but the flip side is that it creates debate on HN about the concept of private prisons, which at least has the potential to be of interest.
- liquidgecka 13y ago
  In this case its been a long, long story in Idaho. When CCA took over and built a prison near Boise the prison directors actually asked to be allowed to bid on running the prison since they felt that the state could do it cheaper than CCA. This was denied by the very Republican government. Slowly the attitude has been changing though, and recently the private prison had to admit to falsifying records after several inmates where very much harmed due to CCA's actions. The private prison is now nicknamed "Gladiator school." I find this very interesting because its forcing the hand of a group of the staunchest supporters of privatization. When the very, very far edge moves toward the center its usually cause for curiosity. =)