Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week

Post by grandalf » Mon, Dec 05, 2016, 10:57 PM UTC

nneonneo wrote: post #174

Many of the top-level comments here are against this move. I, on the other hand, would like to express my strong support for this move. Hacker News has never been an anything-goes site. Tight moderation, considerate rules, and low tolerance for bullshit have made this a great site to talk about interesting technical topics and ideas. Remember that we all abide by the rules of the site, and that this isn't a magic fre…

Post by tormeh » Mon, Dec 05, 2016, 10:58 PM UTC

bbctol wrote: post #490

StevePerkins wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It often feels like there is one prevailing slant on this site When people talk about "the average HN reader", or the "prevailing slant", I'm always curious what they mean. For me, it's always felt more like a back-and-forth struggle between radical liberals and hardline libertarians. That's always been the general nature of pretty much every tech-oriented forum historically (e.g. HN, Reddit, Slashdot, Usenet, etc)…

Still, technologically minded liberals/libertarians, for all their differences, are not the only viewpoints, and even if there's disagreement along that axis it can still lead to a bubble. I doubt you'd see many people on HN advocating for a fundamentally Christian America, for instance.

Post by brianmurphy » Mon, Dec 05, 2016, 10:59 PM UTC

madaxe_again wrote: post #379

tarikjn wrote: post #62

I find this experiment a bit strange/disturbing, avoiding political subjects is a way of putting the head in the sand. HN is a community of hackers and entrepreneurs and politics affects these subjects one way or another wether we want to avoid it or not, and are an important component of entrepreneurial and technical subjects. It might be fine if HN was a scientific community, but it is not the case, and even then p…

I'm with you. Far too many technocrats simply go "politics are not my problem", and before you know it you've helped build a police state. If we discuss and use technology without considering it's ethical ramifications then we are on cruise control to hell. To those who will respond with "he said politics, not ethics" - prithee - where is the line? Stifling one angle of discussion stifles others.

Post by kps » Mon, Dec 05, 2016, 11:00 PM UTC

CN7R wrote: post #412

chrissnell wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully support this detox week. As someone whose political views don't align with the average HN reader, I often feel marginalized by unfair downvoting in political discussion, even though I have made my points in an informed and respectful way. It often feels like there is one prevailing slant on this site and those of the majority are free to push their views while the rest of us must either read it and ignore it…

I thought there were rules established: upvote if a post is thought provoking and or informative; downvote if it's factually incorrect or doesn't contribute to the conversation. The forums on the internet should not be solely to affirm your opinions, but also to challenge them and allow growth as an individual. The problem isn't with politics -- it's with the people misusing the voting system.

Post by cyphreak » Mon, Dec 05, 2016, 11:03 PM UTC