Hacker News is actively censoring links to Arrington story. • Hacker News Board

Re: Hacker News is actively censoring links to Arrington story.

#21

Post by tokenadult » Fri, Apr 05, 2013, 9:38 PM UTC

Since I have routinely kept showdead on in my HN user profile, I have developed some sense of which stories are autokilled on submission (almost always because they are from banned domains) and which quickly die after submission (because multiple users with flagging privileges flag them). It looks like gawker.com stories are dying rapidly, perhaps being autokilled on submission, without regard to topic.

On my part, I think that most news about Michael Arrington is probably relevant to this community, but I don't count a story about someone's personal life as "news" until it comes from a reliable source. (After all, even Wikipedia tries to maintain this standard for biographical statements about living persons.) Having just searched Google News, I haven't seen any uptake of any reporting about Arrington in professionally edited news sources. If that kind of story is developed, it MIGHT be worth discussing here. (Meanwhile, we have plenty of other things to discuss here.)

Re: Hacker News is actively censoring links to Arrington story.

#22

Post by benackles » Fri, Apr 05, 2013, 9:38 PM UTC

I highly doubt they are censoring the story. It's much more probable that Gawker.com is banned. While the story of Arrington might be notable to the HN community, Gawker is traditionally a tech tabloid. Most of their content can only serve to harm the startup community.

Re: Hacker News is actively censoring links to Arrington story.

#23

Post by waterlesscloud » Fri, Apr 05, 2013, 9:40 PM UTC

I doubt it was censored. Stuff just gets flagged by users, and personal allegations tend to among flagged stories.

But I'm curious if HN really shows different stories when logged in and logged out, which is what this particular post is alleging. I've never noticed that happen, but maybe I just didn't notice.

Re: Hacker News is actively censoring links to Arrington story.

#24

Post by DanBC » Fri, Apr 05, 2013, 9:43 PM UTC

antr wrote: post #14

danso wrote: post #6

Betabeat is the only other news site that has covered it, and it's mostly covered it by recapping Gawker's reporting. Someone submitted a link to a BetaBeat before but it was flagged off: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5492145 Most controversies related to personal conflicts and allegations are usually flagged, not just in this particular case (many of the Adria Richards-related submissions, for example). I wou…

And the whole "donglegate" story didn't go against that same stance?

Many of the donglegate stories were flagged off the front page. That story was broader, involving behaviours at tech conventions, responses to that behaviour, Internet bullying and mobs, etc.

Donglegate was still lousy for HN. Most threads had little useful discussion, a lot of entrenched opinion, and a lot of heat. ("shallowly, but intensely, interesting").

This? This is nothing useful.

Re: Hacker News is actively censoring links to Arrington story.

#25

Post by dasil003 » Fri, Apr 05, 2013, 9:43 PM UTC

Why is this getting voted up so much? The article is tabloid garbage. Let's not raise the specter of "censorship" (HN is not a nation-state) over an article that fails to meet the most basic editorial standard.

Re: Hacker News is actively censoring links to Arrington story.

#26

Post by bajsejohannes » Fri, Apr 05, 2013, 9:43 PM UTC

antr wrote: post #14

danso wrote: post #6

Betabeat is the only other news site that has covered it, and it's mostly covered it by recapping Gawker's reporting. Someone submitted a link to a BetaBeat before but it was flagged off: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5492145 Most controversies related to personal conflicts and allegations are usually flagged, not just in this particular case (many of the Adria Richards-related submissions, for example). I wou…

And the whole "donglegate" story didn't go against that same stance?

It did, which is why almost all of the stories where removed. The few that survived tended to talk about the issues in a general, timeless fashion and use "donglegate" as an example.

Re: Hacker News is actively censoring links to Arrington story.

#27

Post by onemorepassword » Fri, Apr 05, 2013, 9:44 PM UTC

debt wrote: post #18

i find it interesting that some users on here think stories are being censored; it happens about once or twice a month. why? i believe paul graham and any moderators know full well the damaging effects censorship has on a community. why do some of you guys or gals constantly think there is some conspiracy?

I find the denial interesting.

It's quite obviously happening, and pg & co have regularly confirmed it. HN is heavily moderated, and the moderation is not particularly transparent.

You can argue that it's a good thing and it keeps HN nice and clean, but denying it is... kind of scary really.

Re: Hacker News is actively censoring links to Arrington story.

#28

Post by gus_massa » Fri, Apr 05, 2013, 9:45 PM UTC

mooism2 wrote: post #2

Is gawker.com on the list of banned domains?

I submitted a gawker story two years ago: ""Alien Life" in this Meteorite was already published in 2004 and 2007" (gawker.com) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2294142 (761 days ago, 1 point, 0 comments) [dead]

It was autodead. I still think that my story was interesting, at that there were a few threads about "new" "aliens" were "found" in meteorites. But whatever, I didn't want to start a war for this.

It was quite technical and not about some internet celebrity. I suspect that gawker.com is banned.

Re: Hacker News is actively censoring links to Arrington story.

#29

Post by edwardunknown » Fri, Apr 05, 2013, 9:45 PM UTC

debt wrote: post #18

i find it interesting that some users on here think stories are being censored; it happens about once or twice a month. why? i believe paul graham and any moderators know full well the damaging effects censorship has on a community. why do some of you guys or gals constantly think there is some conspiracy?

They seem to be censoring scandalous gossipy stuff like this and the Donglegate story. Out of good taste or some other motivation, I don't know. The problem is when you start doing that you open yourself up to accusations of vote-rigging, getting your buddies on the front page, etc. It's a bad road to go down but they're definitely on it.

Re: Hacker News is actively censoring links to Arrington story.

#30

Post by niggler » Fri, Apr 05, 2013, 9:45 PM UTC

danso wrote: post #6

Betabeat is the only other news site that has covered it, and it's mostly covered it by recapping Gawker's reporting. Someone submitted a link to a BetaBeat before but it was flagged off: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5492145 Most controversies related to personal conflicts and allegations are usually flagged, not just in this particular case (many of the Adria Richards-related submissions, for example). I wou…

How is a story killed after a few minutes (not the auto-dead filters)? Does it happen when a story receives a certain number of flags? Does it require moderator intervention?