
Ask HN: Why is Hacker News unable to effectively discuss difficult topics? - dredmorbius
https://mastodon.cloud/@dredmorbius/101949243243816673
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dragonwriter
Being flagged off the front page because it is explicitly off topic per the
guidelines is not a sign that HN is unable to discuss topics of its
“difficulty” (and it's not even an especially difficult topic compared to many
that aren't flagged off; it's just particularly egregiously off-topic.)

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PaulHoule
It's not a difficult topic. It's a topic that is spammed with discussion that
is either: (a) members of two tribes giving each other the full nelson, (b)
members of two tribes gloating with other members of their tribe saying that
the members of the other tribe are stupid.

~~~
wmf
That sure sounds like a form of difficulty. Getting back to the original
question, discussing difficult topics requires very disciplined moderation
which most people/forums cannot afford.

"The fact is, it’s very easy to moderate comment sections. It’s very easy to
remove spam, bots, racial slurs, low-effort trolls, and abuse. ... But once
you remove all those things, you’re left with people honestly and civilly
arguing for their opinions. And that’s the scariest thing of all."
[https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/02/22/rip-culture-war-
thread...](https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/02/22/rip-culture-war-thread/)

~~~
threatofrain
Whether people are civil or uncivil, most people don't have interesting things
to say about almost anything, even if we're talking about something like
concurrency. That's why those kinds articles are massively upvoted and
undercommented, even though this is HN and technical things should be its
forte.

But HN has gotten so big that even technical programming and math topics are
too hard (harder than topics of gender and sexuality, of which people have
plenty of words to say). If you feel you're the kind of person who is pursuing
some inquiry with commitment, then you need to find other people who match you
in energy and preparation.

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chmaynard
Hacker News is the private toy of Y Combinator. Their guidelines and their
moderation policies and practices can be rather opaque and capricious. On the
whole, I'm glad HN exists but I don't like the direction it's going.

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LinuxBender
HN is for technical/scientific discussions. It is quite common for political
topics to get removed.

[ Edit ] As PaulHoule mentioned, also business.

~~~
dredmorbius
There are numerous specific isues in the report concerning Internet, Web,
Silicon Valley, and related technologies, firms, practices, and concerns, most
especially Facebook and Twitter.

Among other outcomes, the consequences and repercussions are all but certain
to include massive changes to self- and externally-imposed industry
regulation. The Net's age of innocence is over.

Blanket declarations that the story is off-topic seem at best parlous thin.

~~~
LinuxBender
When in doubt, you could email hn [ at ] ycombinator dot com and ask them for
clarification.

~~~
dredmorbius
I frequently do. And have in this instance.

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2038AD
>Why is Hacker News unable to effectively discuss difficult topics?

>(Russian election interference report flagged off front page.)

Why is a tech news/discussion board unable to effectively discuss politics?

~~~
uberman
Perhaps because the community prefers to use other forums for political chat.

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Simulacra
I don’t think it’s a problem of discussing difficult topics, but rather
there’s a tribe mentality in tech that tends to coalesce around certain
ideas/topics etc, and anything that’s not within that sphere gets beat down.

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kip_
Dear Cake Baker News moderators,

I'm terribly disappointed that this community of thoughtful, interesting
bakers can't seem to effectively discuss the topic of whether or not beans
belong in chili.

