
Ask HN: Flagging Guidelines - innerop
Are the guidelines for flagging posts published anywhere?<p>I ask because on many occasions I&#x27;ve tried to respond as politely and adequately as possible and yet some of my replies get flagged without any explanation. It seems rather arbitrary to me without seeing the guidelines.<p>Here is an example:<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=20678048
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WaitWaitWha
To me, from the perspective of submissions and comments, it appears that the
ability to down-vote is relegated to those that the existing community who
approves. If one's world-view, sentiment, and such does not agree with the
existing team - reflected in their posts/comments, that individual will
unlikely to make it into the approved group. One has to be echoing the
chamber's sentiments to reach the karma level required. It is a self
reinforcing mechanism. But, HN is a private entity that can decide whatever
they want to; so there is that. This is not unusual, and have been shown to
work out even back in the BBS era.

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innerop
Same sentiment.

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tlb
See the "Guidelines" link at the footer of every page.

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innerop
“Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. That
destroys intellectual curiosity, which is what the site exists for.”

Yet at least half of all comments on HN are ideological and political from how
they read and what arguments they invoke. There is no incentive unless you are
playing a game to respond to a political or ideological view from a purely
curious place and half of the views posted on HN are ideological and/or
political.

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tlb
The key word is "battle". Political or ideological debate and inquiry are
welcome. But if you're repeating the same talking points over and over, that's
battle.

You're right that there are no incentives for playing a game here. This site
exists to gratify intellectual curiosity. Other discussion boards do give
points for repeating popular slogans.

Here, before commenting on well-worn topics like racism, ask yourself, "Is
this an idea that most readers won't have considered? Do I have a unique
insight that adds something new to the discussion?" If not, move on. Lots of
things are discussed here, so you can surely find some where you have a unique
perspective.

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innerop
I understand that the facade of rationality you've wrapped your argument in is
really about controlling the course of debate. No one wants to play dictator
unless they're deeply broken and insecure. Good luck.

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howard941
Does it seem to you as though the guidelines such as they are (unhelpful
comment) tend to be honored more in the breach as the number of emotional
comments increases and people's feelings become inflamed? It seems that way to
me.

Also you're still showing as a green user with a thin history. Expect little
deference until you work that out.

