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Why is Y Combinator so defensive lately?

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Re: Why is Y Combinator so defensive lately?

#31

Post by fakedang »

dang wrote: post #18
lnxg33k1 wrote: post #4

I don’t understand why it’s not possible to downvote posts, I’d have saved someone else from killing his own braincells too by reading this article, instead I could not contribute to the mental health of a fellow specimen, sorry random stranger, not my fault

Flags downrank submissions and in that sense work like downvotes. Normally we downweight articles like this but when YC or a YC startup is the story, we err on the side of moderating less - https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... .

I hate to disagree here Dan, but I tried revisiting this article a while back, and in spite of being posted only 8 hours ago, with a reasonable number of comments and up votes, the discussion was nowhere to be found in the first five pages of HN. That leaves me questioning if what you said actually takes place, or whether there is a mechanism for YC to make sure to sanitize the feed to their preference.

Re: Why is Y Combinator so defensive lately?

#32

Post by version_five »

nuclearnice1 wrote: post #17
gochi wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On one hand, the rule is good, on the other a loss for everyone else who enjoys influential figures demonstrating how petty and childish they are behind the layers of image crafting.

Exactly. Almost as much fun as when Garry wanted to take our money to keep him rich: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35118988

His (and others) comments and social media behavior during the SBV thing really opened my eyes.

Re: Why is Y Combinator so defensive lately?

#33

Post by dang »

fakedang wrote: post #31
dang wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flags downrank submissions and in that sense work like downvotes. Normally we downweight articles like this but when YC or a YC startup is the story, we err on the side of moderating less - https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... .

I hate to disagree here Dan, but I tried revisiting this article a while back, and in spite of being posted only 8 hours ago, with a reasonable number of comments and up votes, the discussion was nowhere to be found in the first five pages of HN. That leaves me questioning if what you said actually takes place, or whether there is a mechanism for YC to make sure to sanitize the feed to their preference.

What you observed is so within the normal range of HN's functioning that there's a FAQ entry dedicated to it:

  Q: Why is A ranked below B even though A has more points and is newer?

  A: You can't derive rank from votes and time alone. See "How are stories ranked?" above.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

In this case, the post dropped in rank because of user flags.

Re: Why is Y Combinator so defensive lately?

#34

Post by fakedang »

dang wrote: post #33
fakedang wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to disagree here Dan, but I tried revisiting this article a while back, and in spite of being posted only 8 hours ago, with a reasonable number of comments and up votes, the discussion was nowhere to be found in the first five pages of HN. That leaves me questioning if what you said actually takes place, or whether there is a mechanism for YC to make sure to sanitize the feed to their preference.

What you observed is so within the normal range of HN's functioning that there's a FAQ entry dedicated to it: Q: Why is A ranked below B even though A has more points and is newer? A: You can't derive rank from votes and time alone. See "How are stories ranked?" above. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html In this case, the post dropped in rank because of user flags.

Understood. Is the flagging mechanism based on relative counts or absolute numbers? I think the latter mechanism would be extremely flawed.

Re: Why is Y Combinator so defensive lately?

#35

Post by dang »

fakedang wrote: post #34
dang wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you observed is so within the normal range of HN's functioning that there's a FAQ entry dedicated to it: Q: Why is A ranked below B even though A has more points and is newer? A: You can't derive rank from votes and time alone. See "How are stories ranked?" above. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html In this case, the post dropped in rank because of user flags.

Understood. Is the flagging mechanism based on relative counts or absolute numbers? I think the latter mechanism would be extremely flawed.

I don't understand your question - can you put it differently?

Re: Why is Y Combinator so defensive lately?

#36

Post by fakedang »

dang wrote: post #35
fakedang wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Understood. Is the flagging mechanism based on relative counts or absolute numbers? I think the latter mechanism would be extremely flawed.

I don't understand your question - can you put it differently?

So let's say we have a post with 110 upvotes and 40 comments, as well as 30 flags (i.e. 150 post interactions and 30 flagdowns, or a 1:5 ratio of flagdowns to interactions), and another with 27 upvotes, 13 comments and 20 flags (i.e. 40 post interactions with 20 flags, or a 1:2 ratio of flagdowns to interactions).

The second one is clearly more relatively flagged down than interacted with, even though it was flagged less. This could mean that the topic was clearly against the guidelines for glaring issues. On the other hand, the first could very likely be a controversial topic of discussion with clearly redlined sides (like the recent Jacobin mag article on men's health), or (unlikely but possible) that a swarm of company Z employees could have zealously flagged down the post because of its critical nature against company Z.

In an absolute flagging system, the first article would be flagged, by virtue of having the higher number of flags. In a relative flagging system, the second article would be flagged.

I assume that you hold final authority on which flagged posts actually get flagged and which stay. I hope it's not another decision that's been relegated to an algorithm in the background.

Re: Why is Y Combinator so defensive lately?

#37

Post by dang »

fakedang wrote: post #36
dang wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand your question - can you put it differently?

So let's say we have a post with 110 upvotes and 40 comments, as well as 30 flags (i.e. 150 post interactions and 30 flagdowns, or a 1:5 ratio of flagdowns to interactions), and another with 27 upvotes, 13 comments and 20 flags (i.e. 40 post interactions with 20 flags, or a 1:2 ratio of flagdowns to interactions). The second one is clearly more relatively flagged down than interacted with, even though it was flagged…

Ok, in those terms, HN's flagging system is relative, not absolute.
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