Earlier quoted context omitted.
You may be including it in "automatically tagged as controversial", but I have the feeling that there are lots of people that are flagging those topics (which fits under "automatic" if you include reflexive flagging of social issues topics, but doesn't if you limit "automatic" to the software running the site). I pretty much don't flag anything, but I can see how that flagging could be driven more out of a feeling th…
Right, flagging is another issue. But as to "those discussions don't accomplish anything", what does any discussion on HN accomplish? On the more technical stories, the discussions often educate. Thing is, HN isn't /r/programming, and there are many stories about company culture, startups raising money, SV superstars etc.. What do the discussions about that kind of stories accomplish? It's just people schmoozing for…
I think we also probably see the importance of visibility on hacker news differently; you're arguing that it should be a certain way, apparently because you think it will do some good (the soft phrasing there is because I'm guessing at what you are thinking, not sarcasm), I don't think it is going to have much impact (for example, many of the people that make threads awful see it as an opportunity to defend, with guile and shenanigans, their pet point of view; that's pretty clear evidence that the story isn't reaching them). I also think the media spends a lot more time pandering than it does manipulating (just throwing that in there as a similar situation where I apply a similar world view).