Ask HN: Is HN Censoring Posts?

#1

Post by bdndndndbve » Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 4:01 PM UTC

I saw a post about employees of Musk's companies and their reactions to his Nazi salute at the inauguration. The rise of fascism in America is definitely an interesting and pertinent question, but the post was insta-flagged into oblivion.

Is HN suppressing negative posts about Elon Musk?

Re: Ask HN: Is HN Censoring Posts?

#2

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 4:02 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is HN Censoring Posts?

#3

Post by toomuchtodo » Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 4:02 PM UTC

It appears HN users are flagging to suppress posts, yes, not HN or its mods.

https://github.com/vitoplantamura/HackerNewsRemovals might be helpful for tracking some of this, feel free to bookmark.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39231537 is helpful to understand some mechanics of the above.

Let "You shouldn't flag things just because you don't like them, but you should flag them if they go against the site guidelines." be your guide.

(as pvg's links to dang's comments mention, this is not HN/mod action; this is user sourced moderation activity)

Re: Ask HN: Is HN Censoring Posts?

#4

Post by shortrounddev2 » Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 4:03 PM UTC

I suppose HN generally doesn't want political posts here, with exceptions

Re: Ask HN: Is HN Censoring Posts?

#5

Post by dcminter » Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 4:05 PM UTC

That's absolutely the kind of thing I would flag and I'm very much a left winger. The posting guidelines⁰ explicitly say: "If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic." You don't need a conspiracy to account for this kind of thing disappearing swiftly.

⁰ https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Ask HN: Is HN Censoring Posts?

#6

Post by pvg » Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 4:05 PM UTC

You can see some recent mod commentary on this. It's more or less how HN works and is supposed to work:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42777298

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42775648

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42775535

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42775519

Re: Ask HN: Is HN Censoring Posts?

#7

Post by LinuxBender » Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 4:06 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: Is HN Censoring Posts?

#8

Post by memesarecool » Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 4:09 PM UTC

pvg wrote: post #6

You can see some recent mod commentary on this. It's more or less how HN works and is supposed to work: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42777298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42775648 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42775535 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42775519

There's a lot of discussion here about work environment and startup culture and I thought it was a valid question to current SpaceX and Tesla employees. I am genuinely curious and thought HN would be the best place to ask this and get some genuine answers.

Re: Ask HN: Is HN Censoring Posts?

#9

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 4:12 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is HN Censoring Posts?

#10

Post by memesarecool » Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 4:12 PM UTC

dcminter wrote: post #5

That's absolutely the kind of thing I would flag and I'm very much a left winger. The posting guidelines⁰ explicitly say: "If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic." You don't need a conspiracy to account for this kind of thing disappearing swiftly. ⁰ https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I'm not a left winger just anti-fascist; and I posted the question because I am curious about the thoughts of the employees. I don't want to discuss the gesture. There's a lot of discussion here about work environment and career decisions and this is what I was asking about. I think it was a valid question and a shame it got self-censored by part of the community.

edit: this was the OP btw https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42781509