Ask HN: We're being censored. Why? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: We're being censored. Why?

#11

Post by merb » Tue, Mar 13, 2018, 5:23 PM UTC

existencebox wrote: post #6

radlad wrote: post #4

> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. From the guidelines. ( https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html )

I often find this response in threads like this, and often see it as both a cop-out, and unfortunately "cherry-pick-able" as a guideline. Spectre/Meltdown showed up on the news. Does that mean it's not relevant? Same goes for the Broadcomm purchase blocking. Same goes for whatever statement Elon Musk made this week, or the current SF housing policy. (I chose examples intentionally in "Decreasing-tech-relevancy" order…

> Spectre/Meltdown showed up on the news.

well it didn't at the beginning. hn readers at least had one or two days in advance.

Re: Ask HN: We're being censored. Why?

#12

Post by Sone7 » Tue, Mar 13, 2018, 5:25 PM UTC

Exuma wrote: post #3

I go to HN to read tech related things, not more political drivel. I'm glad it got removed.

Oh look it's happening again. The people who think this article might not be "drivel" are being grayed within minutes.

And by the way, this censorship happens on tech stories too. This article from three months ago wasn't even flagged, just didn't show up until page 3 or 4 despite being new and having tons of comments - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15745363.

Re: Ask HN: We're being censored. Why?

#13

Post by snackpack » Tue, Mar 13, 2018, 5:25 PM UTC

This type of behavior should have been expected from the day HN announced they weren't allowing political news on their site, just over a year ago.

It's pretty irresponsible: Primary news outlet for an industry that is already noticeably lacking in social and political responsibility decides to put up another set of blinders.

Low EQ Silicon Valley refuses to use its influence to affect political change in any meaningful way. Or even just political awareness. Ironic when you consider this political/social passiveness enables the same surveillance capitalism that this community is constantly complaining about.

Re: Ask HN: We're being censored. Why?

#14

Post by rdtsc » Tue, Mar 13, 2018, 5:26 PM UTC

> My comment on it is permanently compressed (even when the thread is opened in an entirely different browser) and has been stuck on 11 points.

You pointed an inconvenient fact about Obama and a lot of people are not going to like that. They could discuss it or flag and run away quickly. Flag and run away is too easy, so that's what ends up happening.

One time I criticized the obsession with Russians. A user went and start digging through my comments to determine that I speak Russian (which I do) and that meant proof I was a Russian shill, paid by Putin presumably to subvert Democracy right here on HN. Which is doubly creepy given that the Russian government deported and persecuted members of my family in the past.

Re: Ask HN: We're being censored. Why?

#15

Post by Sone7 » Tue, Mar 13, 2018, 5:28 PM UTC

hashmal wrote: post #8

I think (but don't take my word for it) it's because it has nothing with tech/startups/whatever AND is related to politics/trump. Back during the US election, HN became mostly news like this, and if I remember correctly it was decided it wasn't the purpose of HN to link to such news. It does not mean that these news are considered false, or not important, it does not mean censorship, it just means that HN is for a ra…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15745363

This story from 3 months ago is as tech-related (Google changing their algorithm) as you can get. It wasn't visibly flagged, but was almost certainly de-ranked, and it wasn't just me who commented about it.

Even if you can buy the excuse that this isn't related to tech or start-ups, and ignore the very active commenting on it, you're still left with the utter refusal to allow any transparency about what is flagged and de-ranked. Why shouldn't we demand better?

Re: Ask HN: We're being censored. Why?

#16

Post by thisisit » Tue, Mar 13, 2018, 5:30 PM UTC

IMO HN should stick to tech. And even if there is an argument over between Python or GO, I am fine with it.

Politics shouldn't be discussed at all.

It has been understood that thing don't go as smooth as in a community like these. I personally think that the story about Trump and Broadcom or endless parade of bitcoin at $x price shouldn't be voted up at all. But, somehow people feel value in those. I tend to skip those stories.

Re: Ask HN: We're being censored. Why?

#17

Post by Sone7 » Tue, Mar 13, 2018, 5:32 PM UTC

mchannon wrote: post #2

In a word, yes. Many of us (including me) find this matter interesting, but HN is designed to allow a tiny minority to flag content. Whether that's wise or not is another topic. It's always been HN's design. You can't do much about other commenters, even if they are professional trolls paid by the post. Nonetheless, political matters (which this arguably is) are considered by many to be off-topic. That's why you're g…

There were plenty of active commenters, most of them considering this a very serious issue.

And no one has been able to offer any explanation why my comment is permanently collapsed even when opened on a different browser, despite no obvious flag and a healthy amount of positive votes.

Finally, as I've said elsewhere here, there appears to be evidence of "silent de-ranking" where stories like the one about Google's censorship are not flagged in any way but won't show up on the front pages.

As a community HN deserves better, by far. Normalising this behaviour will lead to dark and bad places.

Re: Ask HN: We're being censored. Why?

#18

Post by Sone7 » Tue, Mar 13, 2018, 5:35 PM UTC

thisisit wrote: post #16

IMO HN should stick to tech. And even if there is an argument over between Python or GO, I am fine with it. Politics shouldn't be discussed at all. It has been understood that thing don't go as smooth as in a community like these. I personally think that the story about Trump and Broadcom or endless parade of bitcoin at $x price shouldn't be voted up at all. But, somehow people feel value in those. I tend to skip tho…

The CIA employ what percentage of the tech community again? Maybe this shouldn't be considered an entirely political story, given the ramifications it has for all of us.

Re: Ask HN: We're being censored. Why?

#19

Post by snackpack » Tue, Mar 13, 2018, 5:35 PM UTC

Exuma wrote: post #3

I go to HN to read tech related things, not more political drivel. I'm glad it got removed.

To call this drivel is specious. It's not a political cartoon, it's about illegal torture methods. The tech industry, with its tremendous growth and influence, has a responsibility to pay attention to these things.

Re: Ask HN: We're being censored. Why?

#20

Post by montrose » Tue, Mar 13, 2018, 5:40 PM UTC

I don't know why people flagged that link, but I'll tell you why I'm flagging this one: because you have to have flagging or crap takes over the site, and if you also allow protest posts from people upset about things that got flagged, then those take over the site.

I don't complain in Ask HN posts when stuff I upvoted is flagged off the frontpage. If you have a problem with moderation, email the moderators, like everyone else.