While it is fine that you have decided to no longer be news or for hackers, that means I don't care to continue reading this. Hackers are supposed to question the systems they're presented with, and news is supposed to deal with the issues of the day--political news and computer news are linked inextricably these days. The idea of removing one is asinine, this is not the proper community for it. Lobsters is good.
Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
991–1000 of 1001 posts
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#992And because of this, I decided to visit the front page for the first time in several years. Looks great!
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#993Preaching to the choir here, but I would like to voice my strong dissent towards this move.
Trump and his cabinet directly effect everything HN stands for: the planet, space exploration, online surveillance. These are not "off-topic" at all. In fact, I'd go as far to argue that even this week-long ban should not touch anything to do with climate change. Climate change is science, not politics, and what Trump does now (see: EPA pick) affects this like nothing else.
Please let this be an experiment and nothing more. I come to HN to have a discussion on a wide range of topics, including politics.
Thanks.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#994I think a political detox week is a bad idea. What some see as gratification for their intellectual curiosity and civil, substantive commentaries and seen by others as political rants and flames. I much prefer a larger world view and a thoughtful "fire department" to quell flames when they get out of hand.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#995Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone whose views don't align with a good chunk of HN readers (or don't align, period), I've grown to love reading about differing ideas through the eyes of others computing/tech enthusiasts. There's common ground to start from and most importantly, even if it turns out to be a viewpoint that deeply goes against my values I can still respect this fellow human because of their tech expertise. I have to admit, it…
> People that complain their opinions aren't getting fair treatment are very rarely worth listening to I feel this opinion falls into that category
That's a bit of a confusing, almost paradoxical-seeming statement :) I don't believe I complained my opinions are getting fair treatment. In fact, they almost always seem to get fair treatment. Even when they're ignored or downvoted, really, if the majority of HN-users are anything, it's an uncanny valley of faceless reasonableness :p
Unless you mean something different, maybe the line could have used some qualifiers. So it's not the opinions themselves that aren't worth listening to, to be clear. It's just that given two people of the same position, the one that's not complaining their opinions aren't getting fair treatment is usually one that can argue their position a lot more clearly and therefore is just generally more worth listening to. Although that's the less-accurate positive version of that preference of mine. In my personal experience, the negative version is almost always on point.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#996Many 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…
What, really, is wrong with noise as long as there is signal?
The only people who care about flaming are the flamed. They should be able to take a good argument, and besides the flamers get modded down. Slashdot is a great example that HN would well to emulate in my opinion. It is in no way an echo chamber.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#997Loved the detox. Decided to extend it to the rest of the year!
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#998Loved the detox. Decided to extend it to the rest of the year!
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#999Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Silence assists certain forms of repression. So does sleep. Stop sleeping. EDIT: Hours not spent fighting fascism are hours spent supporting it, right?
You're correct. Hours spent concern trolling are hours spent failing to oppose fascism.
Sorry. That comment is one among many I wish I could take back on HN.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#1000Earlier quoted context omitted.
It will only last a week... a week in which the president-elect is meeting with some top Silicon Valley people. And a week in which any discussion or stories about that will be conveniently automatically off-topic.
Obviously that's a pure coincidence. The idea that HN moderators have prior information about presidential meetings is (from where I sit) completely silly, and certainly totally wrong.
> The idea that HN moderators have prior information about presidential meetings is (from where I sit) completely silly,
It is silly, but not completely silly.
One doesn't have to cross over into tinfoil-hat territory to wonder if sama, paulg, or other YC partners knew about the meeting ahead of time. Assuming they knew, it then isn't outlandish to wonder if they nudged the moderators into doing the experiment now as opposed to some other time without disclosing the reason.
That said, I don't subscribe to this chain of suppositions (or at least, I don't assign it more than ~10% chance of being true).
In any case, even if any YC partners did know about the meeting, I imagine they would be paying more attention to the absence of YC portfolio companies from the invitation list rather than considering new moderation policies to shape discourse on HN to their (supposed) advantage.
> and certainly totally wrong.
Having little reason to doubt you, and considerably more to take you at your word, this is more than good enough for me under the circumstances.