Hcrknews.com (Flagged / Censored content can be seen)

Oh wow even this fucking comment will show up then. Just to be sure: Cunt!

I'd love to get a discussion going on whether people support or oppose the flagging (and subsequent disappearance) of politically charged topics on HN. While HN is not a politics site, some of these censored topics have been tech-related.

I guess it comes down to a value judgement: is it worth discussing tech politics even if it spawns flamewars and heated arguments? I think it's worth it, but this is certainly debatable. Curious what other HN users think.

My own thinking is that political discussion between opposing factions is always going to be contentious, but that doesn't mean it should be suppressed. However, angry rhetoric can lead to further polarization, so I'm not sure what the right approach is.

Edit: funny enough, this topic itself was flagged and killed! I've vouched it, but I'm open to hearing arguments for why this link doesn't belong.

HN's flagging algorithm wasn't built to withstand mass false positives from people who would rather shout down, silence, and blow up certain conversations when they realize they lack the mental fortitude to do battle with the same scientific truth of which they mock the low-hanging-fruit of middle America for not comprehending.

I thing some of these topics are the most interestng we have.

I mostly accept that they don’t belong on HN though.

But it feels deeply hypocritical when some political stories stay on the front page for hours until more information starts to arrive and they get flagged off swiftly.

Meh, the stories were killed for a reason.

Thanks @dang and the rest of the team for keeping HN relevant and sane. It's never a fully objective decision, but I'm glad to leave that to them rather than have to dig through crap to find something good (cough unlike reddit cough).