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The fact that a topic is treated by some people as a religious dispute doesn't mean articles about it can't be interesting. By flagging stuff without even read

by pg 17y ago

The fact that a topic is treated by some people as a religious dispute doesn't mean articles about it can't be interesting. By flagging stuff without even reading it, you're behaving as mindlessly as the partisans on each side.

timr 17y ago
I agree that the articles are sometimes interesting, but they're frequently just re-hashes, posted as platforms for ranting comment threads by the same handful of people. It would be nice if there was a flag-like mechanism for the community to turn off comments on articles like this one. It seems that if the karma incentive was reduced on political articles, people would have less incentive to post the thoughtless ones.
- mnemonicsloth 17y ago
  It seems that if the karma incentive was reduced on political articles, people would have less incentive to post the thoughtless ones. This is backwards. Usenet had political flamewars despite having no karma. People post to political threads because it makes them feel good to stick up for their particular causes. Emotions that reward us for signaling our allegiances and general loyalty are one of the cognitive adaptations that allow our species to solve the Prisoner's Dilemma to benefit from cooperation, specialization, and trade. Start reading Robin Hanson: http://www.overcomingbias.com http://www.overcomingbias.com or Comeuppance: http://www.amazon.com/Comeuppance-Altruistic-Punishment-Biological-Components/dp/0674026314 http://www.amazon.com/Comeuppance-Altruistic-Punishment-Biol...
  - timr 17y ago
    I didn't suggest that it would eliminate the flamewars (if only!) However, I do think it would cut down on the incentive to start them. Flamewars on Usenet were hard to ignore, and easy to propagate. How would people start flamewars on HN if they can't comment?
davidw 17y ago
I think 'mindless' is unfair. I flag them because I have seen that these articles/topics regularly degrade into junk and so I do not want to see them on this site. So I have a strategy based on my own observations of how sites like this work.

by pg 17y ago

timr 17y ago

I agree that the articles are sometimes interesting, but they're frequently just re-hashes, posted as platforms for ranting comment threads by the same handful of people. It would be nice if there was a flag-like mechanism for the community to turn off comments on articles like this one. It seems that if the karma incentive was reduced on political articles, people would have less incentive to post the thoughtless ones.

mnemonicsloth 17y ago
It seems that if the karma incentive was reduced on political articles, people would have less incentive to post the thoughtless ones. This is backwards. Usenet had political flamewars despite having no karma. People post to political threads because it makes them feel good to stick up for their particular causes. Emotions that reward us for signaling our allegiances and general loyalty are one of the cognitive adaptations that allow our species to solve the Prisoner's Dilemma to benefit from cooperation, specialization, and trade. Start reading Robin Hanson: http://www.overcomingbias.com http://www.overcomingbias.com or Comeuppance: http://www.amazon.com/Comeuppance-Altruistic-Punishment-Biological-Components/dp/0674026314 http://www.amazon.com/Comeuppance-Altruistic-Punishment-Biol...
- timr 17y ago
  I didn't suggest that it would eliminate the flamewars (if only!) However, I do think it would cut down on the incentive to start them. Flamewars on Usenet were hard to ignore, and easy to propagate. How would people start flamewars on HN if they can't comment?

davidw 17y ago

I think 'mindless' is unfair. I flag them because I have seen that these articles/topics regularly degrade into junk and so I do not want to see them on this site. So I have a strategy based on my own observations of how sites like this work.