Michael Rabin has died

This is a serious allegation that you've made before, but our records don’t show any instances where you raised a case of antisemitism and we refused or failed to act. The last time you emailed us pointing out an antisemitic comment (one that had already been flagged by several community members) we banned the account immediately and thanked you for reporting it.

In the case of this thread, the beginning of it happened when it was overnight for both dang and me, and as soon as either of us saw it we collapsed the off-topic subthread about antisemitism and flagged/killed any combative comments about that topic that hadn't already been flagged/killed by other community members. The claim we “leave this thread here alone, just as all the other stuff” is easily explained in this case, as in all cases: we were asleep or away from the computer when it was posted but dealt with it when we saw it.

The claim – or, irrefutable insinuation, as it so often is – that we allow more antisemitism to be posted here now than was allowed in the past is made just as often about anti-Islam sentiments and other forms of toxic ideology on either side of the spectrum. Maybe it’s true that dang and I are becoming more tolerant of antisemitism and anti-Islam sentiment and also right-wing and left-wing extremism all at once. Or maybe we should consider the possibility that discussion about politics and ideology, along with religions, particularly those pertaining to Israel and Palestine (and the broader Middle East), has become more incendiary and toxic everywhere in recent years, and it's seeped into almost all online and offline spaces, and we're no more able than King Canute to hold back that tide.

That doesn't mean we just blithely accept the “decline of HN”. We always hate to see any toxic comments posted about any topic. After all, this site is meant for curious discussions about stuff like programming languages and other things hackers find interesting. We didn't sign up to be a place where people come to rage about vexed geopolitical conflicts. When any toxic material is posted we want it flagged/killed and repeat guidelines-breaking users banned, just as has always been the case. Of course, there are things we should be doing, and are doing, to be better at detecting and addressing toxic content quickly. It takes time to develop and test these systems, and we're being challenged like never before by growth in the things that take up our time and attention, including new forms of abuse.

We are working hard, every day of every week, to manage these ever-changing issues and demands. You and everyone are always welcome to email us to point out any comment, submission or user that's in breach of the guidelines, and as you know, we will always reply, we'll often agree and take the action you're calling for, or if not, we'll thoroughly explain our reasoning. I can’t find a single instance where you’ve tried that approach with us and failed to get a response.

I am 90% finished writing an article about Miller-Rabin primality testing. A few weeks ago I was looking around and found out that Rabin was still alive, which I hadn't expected... and was wondering if I should try to contact him to ask a few questions regarding his motivation to explore stochastic algorithms. Too late. :-(

We are all in his debt.

Thank you. Appreciate it

Very cliquey at the top. Rabin is the name of a former Israeli PM as well, so wouldn't be surprised if they were related.