R.I.P. guidelines
Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
961–970 of 1001 posts
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#962Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps grounding your moderation policies around concepts you know are undefined and inseparable isn't the best basis for moderating the site. As for how people see your actions: labeling it as "projecting" might make you feel better, but probably gets in the way of you understanding what they're saying. In today's environment, you can't simultaneously make the site an welcoming place for people who are anti-Muslim,…
> people who are anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-feminist, anti-trans (etc.) - and for people who are Muslim, immigrant, women, trans and non-binary people (etc) Those are beliefs vs identity, a particularly tricky subject. The problem is when, I for example, don't see it that way; I see many of those "identities" to be beliefs also, beliefs about self. As an example, to a Creationist, arguments about evolution are…
Thanks for the reply. I agree that identity intersects with beliefs -- and more generally worldview, including epistemology, ontology, etc. And yes, there are certainly some areas where there are debates about whether particular behavior is or isn't anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-feminist, or anti-trans. As you say, these things are tricky.
Still, the points I was making ''aren't'' tricky.
- For the dimensions that I listed (and implied with the "etc"), in today's environment, HN is kidding themselves by thinking they can welcome "both sides"
- the feedback they're getting is from people (including me) who see YC and 'dang personally as aligning themselves with the antis by blocking political discussion
> That said, I suspect you mean "you can't welcome both women, and people who hold anti-woman beliefs".
No, I meant very specifically that in today's context HN - and by extension YC - can't simultaneously be welcoming to anti-feminists - and welcoming to women and allies.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#963I'll never understand why people act like a forum is a TV channel. Can't people just hide threads, or avoid topics that don't interest them? It's not like HN only has one discussion at a time and that politics has crowded out other topics.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#964Earlier quoted context omitted.
A trouble I have with HN is the casual assumption that a subject actually has an objective truth that can be debated. Often we just don't agree on the basics of what is actually important in a philosophical sense. So every fact is just a proxy for a particular world view. It is better to question the underlying assumptions than the facts themselves. We don't need to do this with technology or buisness because we alre…
I also often see this when someone argues that a certain action by a company isn't ethical--which has no objective truth, but that makes the debate only more fruitful, IMO--and someone else then replies that this company has every (legal) right to act this way, which has more of an objective truth by most standards, but isn't very interesting at all if you don't live in the same jurisdiction, nor has it much relevanc…
Yes, I have lost count of the rants against "natural products". People develop these buying habits in response to an inabilty to hold complete information about a product. So you have to have shortcuts based on your world view. For every organic lover there is someone slurping Soylant.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#965the definition of WHITE supremacist MALE supremacist PRIVILEGE
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#966the definition of WHITE supremacist MALE supremacist PRIVILEGE
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#967The beauty (in my eyes at least) of Hacker News has always been that the most interesting/relevant stories and discussions find their way to the top of the feed. I've discovered topics and perspectives (including those I disagree with) that I otherwise wouldn't have been exposed to if it weren't for HN. I've always felt there is something of a built-in filter present, so this move feels a little forced and unnecessar…
It sounds like you may not be seeing the worst of the threads we're talking about, which tend not to remain on the front page but burn like tire fires anyway.
That's entirely possible and a fair point.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#968Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd suggest that the point of avoiding political discussion is not just because it's unpleasant or divisive. In my eyes, the problem is that politics has so much implicit back-end that it cannot be usefully discussed on an internet forum. In the several paragraphs (at most) that we write to another, we convey so little while disagreeing on so much. Besides that, there's the issue that we spend much of political disco…
This is one of the best comments I've read on HN recently. Thank you!
Thanks, that means a lot!
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#969I think this is paternalistic. Individual readers can avoid political topics if they don't want to engage.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#970Who decides what's "political"? Are discussions of regulations surrounding Uber political? The ongoing Tesla/dealership feuds? Using machine learning to detect fake news? New immigration policy that impacts H1B tech workers? The impact of Brexit on tech companies? Restrictions on cryptography? I'm split on this: On one hand, firm moderation and keeping things on-topic makes for a good forum for discussion. On the oth…
> here need to be clearer guidelines around what's allowed and what's not. We're happy to clarify (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13108614 ) but it's impossible to draw a precise line. Moderation is about a few core principles and a lot of case-by-case judgment calls, and it's inherently unsatisfying. Whatever rules we have, though, we apply them less rather than more in cases where YC itself or a YC start…
Oh look, exactly what I was afraid of is already happening: https://twitter.com/jdp23/status/806236638783291392