Right, but that seems like a different statement than "HN isn't suppressing these stories"--HN is suppressing the stories, both as a community (via flags) and t

Right, but that seems like a different statement than "HN isn't suppressing these stories"--HN is suppressing the stories, both as a community (via flags) and through its administrators (via software). The "second smallest" penalty on the site has a pretty substantial impact, FWIW (I'm not complaining). EDIT: I created this comment and grandparent purely in the context of this subthread, after reading 'tptacek's parent comment. In future I'll check the overall context first--it strikes me that my attempt to inject interesting commentary and correct what I viewed as a minor piece of misinformation about how HN works might actually be adding fuel to a fire that I'd rather not feed--I am grateful for the level of moderation that 'dang and the gang exert, and even more grateful for community members who know how to use the flag button and then actually use it in an appropriate fashion.