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Ask PG, HN: Is someone tampering with article positions?

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Re: Ask PG, HN: Is someone tampering with article positions?

#21

Post by lifeisstillgood »

webtrill wrote: post #12

I believe someone is tampering with the position of links submitted. I say so because last week or so, I submitted our startup to HN which was on the first page for most of the day and receiving some positive comments/feedback. At some point in the day, we were no where to be found (unless I utilized the search functionality), only to appear again on the first page after a while. Later on in the evening, it dissapear…

That sounds a lot like flagging. cf. recent article on Margaret Thatcher that bounced in and out of existence. I actually assumed it was a moderator decision but info@ explained it got flagged dead, then put back by mods - which is almost a description of your events.

Oddly enough I have never flagged an article (except with a fat finger) - usually because I simply dont know what it does.

Re: Ask PG, HN: Is someone tampering with article positions?

#22

Post by chc »

stagas wrote: post #14
trotsky wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 is a big part too, a moderator flag appears to instantly drop a post about 60 ranks (from first to third page). I think when you see it only get to the second page that's user flagging.

That's interesting. Can we have background information for these "moderators" that are given these god like abilities? We need to know who's deciding what we should be reading or not.

Nobody's deciding what you should be reading. They're just deciding what gets top billing on Hacker News. I'm pretty sure none of the moderators believe the top stories on Hacker News are the only things worth reading. Hacker News is meant to be tightly focused on certain areas, so other things (e.g. politics) get buried whether you should read them or not.

Re: Ask PG, HN: Is someone tampering with article positions?

#24

Post by trotsky »

benologist wrote: post #18
lmm wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There must be a bit more to it than that; I flag pretty aggressively (though admittedly only articles that I think are inappropriate rather than simply bad ) and the link is still there.

I think there's some flagging-ring detection, I heavily flagged a group of spam accounts over and over again until I lost the ability which might look suspicious without examining the targeted accounts. It never comes back either.

that seems to fit with me as well, i was flagging a spammy subset of articles on a subject that were being relentlessly promoted by a rather small group of people.

Re: Ask PG, HN: Is someone tampering with article positions?

#25

Post by mansigandhi »

webtrill wrote: post #12

I believe someone is tampering with the position of links submitted. I say so because last week or so, I submitted our startup to HN which was on the first page for most of the day and receiving some positive comments/feedback. At some point in the day, we were no where to be found (unless I utilized the search functionality), only to appear again on the first page after a while. Later on in the evening, it dissapear…

Yep, this has happened to me a couple of times as well. My post would be in the Top 10 for a few hours and then suddenly sink below 30.
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