
Ask HN: We need a way to discuss political articles here - aerovistae
For the first time, I am spending more time on &#x27;New&#x27; than on &#x27;Top&#x27; here on HN, because there are dozens of very insightful political essays and articles being submitted which are flagged and dead in moments.<p>I understand we are trying to keep HN tech-centered, but things have reached a point where we all care deeply and wish to discuss ongoing events. I do not wish to see HN continue to exclude politics.<p>I would prefer to be able to tag those posts as Political, and give users the option to stick to old-fashioned pure HN, tech only, or to include political content for those of us who wish to engage with it.
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LifeQuestioner
I really like the fact, personally, that HN is a place I can come and escape
politics. I purposely do not read the mainstream news and havn't for years.

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jlgaddis
Agreed. There are plenty of forums where politics can be discussed. I like
that I can come to HN when I want to avoid all of that.

(I'm drawing a line between tech-centered / tech-related "politics" to be
different than "general politics". Political issues that directly affect /
relate to the tech industry are ("may be") relevant here.)

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thenomad
I sort of agree - but on the other hand, the level of politics around right
now is overwhelming, and it's nice, going on necessary, to have somewhere that
isn't all Trump, all the time. So I wouldn't be particularly happy with just
lifting the old-school HN politics discouragement.

A separated HN-for-politics area would seem like a good idea at this point,
though. "Show | Ask | Politics | Jobs"?

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thenomad
Second thought on this: outrage fatigue, empathy fatigue, and activism fatigue
are all real things.

Having places that _aren 't_ politicised may be very important in keeping up
resistance to horrible politics and policies beyond a month or so.

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DanBC
> I understand we are trying to keep HN tech-centered

A minor nit, but I don't believe that's the intent. I believe the intent is to
focus on things that are deeply interesting, rather than things that are
likely to trigger flame wars.

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joeclark77
The problem with mixing politics and business is that you get what Nassim
Taleb is calling a 'dictatorship of the most intolerant'. If someone foolishly
thinks it's safe to express a mainstream opinion, a minority of radicals will
attack relentlessly with intent to destroy that person's career. Conservatives
and Christians in academia and Silicon Valley have first-hand experience with
this. Like Brendan Eich, we know that we can lose our jobs if we identify our
political views. Not because we're in the minority, but because radicals make
more noise, and most employers are cowards.

Therefore when liberals, who know their jobs aren't at risk, repeatedly ask
that we all talk about politics in a professional forum, it comes across as a
_dare_.

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jayjay71
I think the separation between HN and politics is intentional. In fact, not
too long ago they strictly banned _any_ political submissions for a week
(although they cancelled it early because nobody could agree on the definition
of political).

I think your best bet in the short term is to create a custom subreddit,
invite a bunch of people from HN, and see how that goes. Since you have the
early momentum from the audience you want you can set up the mods early and
set the tone for the future. Later on you can create your own website if
reddit becomes problematic.

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webmaven
I am very sympathetic to the idea, but the reason the "Show HN" and "Ask HN"
sections are valuable is that these posts are overwhelemed in the main view,
rather than vice-versa.

An explicit "Politics" section even if excluded from the main feed or included
with a large penalty (Like "Jobs") would probably suck the air out of the rest
of the site.

A better option might be a separate politics-oriented site, perhaps hosted by
a nonpartisan policy-recommending organization (in itself a tall order).

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boyanpro
Please no politics here. Don't bring dirt here. Please.

