
Ask HN: What is HN doing to stop foreign misinformation during Covid-19? - aaron695
In this short intense time period misinformation will amplify economic changes quickly, we should assume all sites are under some sort of attack.<p>Has HN increased security?
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Jugurtha
Wouldn't _" What is HN doing to stop misinformation during Covid-19?"_ be
better?

Foreign, domestic, deliberate or otherwise.

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blaser-waffle
HN is the newsfeed of Ycombinator -- it's right there in the URL -- which is a
start-up incubator. They've got a vested interest in promoting their start-
ups, and keeping discussions about their former startups as positive as
possible.

Like, if they're not making money from adds or in-app purchases (aka reddit
gold), then their value is in shaping consensus.

So assume everything on here has some freakin HUGE biases.

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dang
This comment misunderstands the basics of how we manage HN to benefit YC.
People naturally assume the worst, but it's important to know how HN actually
works, because we're luckier than that here.

The way to maximize HN's value for YC is to have HN be as good as possible,
where 'good' means gratifying intellectual curiosity. That's what makes the
community happy, and the community is what's valuable about HN. Since a happy-
community HN is the most valuable-to-YC HN, that's all we try to optimize for.
HN is in an odd sort of sweet spot on the internet where the way it can best
serve the business interests of its owner is simply by being as good as
possible. We don't have to juice engagement, pump numbers up, and so on. We
can just be 'bookish', something pg used to say he wanted for this place. Like
I said, we're lucky that way.

[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20yc%20business%20interests&sort=byDate&type=comment)

[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20curiosity%20optimiz&sort=byDate&type=comment)

So no, we don't focus on promoting startups or keeping discussions about YC
startups as positive as possible. (There are plenty of negative ones. Just
look in on any Airbnb thread.) The community wouldn't be happy if we did that,
nor would it be good for intellectual curiosity, so we don't. We do use
moderation as a counterweight against predictable indignation in general (on
any topic). But we do that kind of moderation thing less, not more, when YC or
YC startups are involved—see
[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20moderate%20less%20not%20more%20yc&sort=byDate&type=comment).

There are three formal things that HN does do for YC: job ads for YC startups
(which appear on the front page and then
[https://news.ycombinator.com/jobs](https://news.ycombinator.com/jobs)),
Launch HN threads for YC startups (which appear on the front page and then
[https://news.ycombinator.com/launches](https://news.ycombinator.com/launches)),
and usernames of YC alumni appearing in orange to other YC alumni. Those are
definitely special privileges. We do that as a way of giving back to YC in
exchange for funding HN. But we keep them very delimited and explicit. I
really need to add this to the FAQ.

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mikst
Sorry, you must be new to the Internet. Everything besides World Health
Organisation website (in this particular case) is an opinion here. 99.9999% of
the information on the Internet is not to be treated in any other way from the
start. Not only you are not supposed to trust HN, as they just folks like you,
it is very rude to demand them to work for you and verify facts instead of
you.

~~~
Jugurtha
> _Sorry, you must be new to the Internet. Everything besides World Health
> Organisation website (in this particular case) is an opinion here._

It is ironic you mention the World Health Organization as a source of truth
given this tweet:

> _If you do not have any respiratory symptoms, such as fever, cough, or runny
> nose, you do not need to wear a medical mask. When used alone, masks can
> give you a false feeling of protection and can even be a source of infection
> when not used correctly._ [0] - WHO Twitter Account

I put a spin on it:

> _If you are not drunk, you do not need to wear your seat belt. When used
> alone, seat belts can give you a false feeling of protection, and can even
> be a source of accidents when not used correctly._

[0]:
[https://twitter.com/WHOWPRO/status/1243171683067777024](https://twitter.com/WHOWPRO/status/1243171683067777024)

~~~
badpun
Yep, looks like the WHO chose to manipulate the public into not using the
masks so that enough is available for health-care professionals. It had a
positive short-term impact, but also damaged their reputation and
trustworthiness, which is very bad.

~~~
chatmasta
Wait, really? As in, the WHO followed an intentional strategy of misleading
the public, akin to a real life trolley problem? I'd be interested in reading
more about this if there are sources.

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taf2
Ask not what your HN can do for you, but what you can do for your HN

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cjbenedikt
Excellent question.

