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Ask HN: Why was the Posterous Thread Killed?

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Re: Ask HN: Why was the Posterous Thread Killed?

#12
post #5

HN is going to lose a lot of credibility if these kinds of questions don't get answered. For some reason it always seems like Posterous threads get yanked. It sure is incriminating.

Killing can be done by users, too. If a few users (5? 10?) don't like a story and click "flag", it's gone.

Don't blame the site admins for a conspiracy when it's just a few users out of thousands that are responsible.

(The article shouldn't have been killed... I had a good comment there that people can't reply to now. Annoying.)

Re: Ask HN: Why was the Posterous Thread Killed?

#15
post #14
post #5

HN is going to lose a lot of credibility if these kinds of questions don't get answered. For some reason it always seems like Posterous threads get yanked. It sure is incriminating.

[deleted]

I think he was talking about posts that go against Posterous.

Re: Ask HN: Why was the Posterous Thread Killed?

#16
post #10
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the editor flexing his/her muscles to protect a family member. Do you have evidence to support this accusation of nepotism on HN?

Well, the author stated that he did not pull the post himself. On what other grounds do you think the post deserved to be pulled if it was for non-nefarious reasons? How often do you see other posts get pulled on HN?

1) I was addressing the specific allegations of nepotism.

2) Users, like you, can flag articles. And given sufficient flags, articles get auto-yanked.

3) I can see the article being pulled for non-nefarious reasons, like the article being an unfunny parody and enough people being fed up with such things.

4) Chill. There is no cause here for you to champion.

Re: Ask HN: Why was the Posterous Thread Killed?

#17
post #5

HN is going to lose a lot of credibility if these kinds of questions don't get answered. For some reason it always seems like Posterous threads get yanked. It sure is incriminating.

Killing can be done by users, too. If a few users (5? 10?) don't like a story and click "flag", it's gone. Don't blame the site admins for a conspiracy when it's just a few users out of thousands that are responsible. (The article shouldn't have been killed... I had a good comment there that people can't reply to now. Annoying.)

A fixed number of flags to kill seems silly when the total number of users on the site keeps growing. At the limit everything will get flagged/pulled.

Re: Ask HN: Why was the Posterous Thread Killed?

#18
post #11

I, for one, flagged the article because I felt: - the author was trolling - the post was misleading

Flagging is a pretty drastic response to a post you disagree with. Andrew's article was certainly pretty blistering, but he had an argument backed up with evidence.

Saying a post is misleading but offering nothing to back that up is unhelpful to say the least. There was an active and civil comments thread that seems like the perfect venue to have a more enlightening discussion.

Re: Ask HN: Why was the Posterous Thread Killed?

#19
post #11

I, for one, flagged the article because I felt: - the author was trolling - the post was misleading

Isn't the entire Posterous switch campaign something of an exercise in trolling?

I found the thread interesting, even though I like and use Posterous.

Re: Ask HN: Why was the Posterous Thread Killed?

#20
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Killing can be done by users, too. If a few users (5? 10?) don't like a story and click "flag", it's gone. Don't blame the site admins for a conspiracy when it's just a few users out of thousands that are responsible. (The article shouldn't have been killed... I had a good comment there that people can't reply to now. Annoying.)

A fixed number of flags to kill seems silly when the total number of users on the site keeps growing. At the limit everything will get flagged/pulled.

I find it unlikely that the flag threshold is a fixed number. I think I remember pg mentioning something about very new and very highly voted posts having a high and variable flag threshold.
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