

Ask HN: Do you vouch for the accuracy of links you submit? - tokenadult

When you submit a link to HN, is that an implicit statement that you agree with the content at the linked source, or are you inviting discussion of a source that you possibly disagree with? I have found some recent comment threads in which commenters presume that the submitter agrees with the linked content, but it seems to me under the HN guidelines,<p>"On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity."<p>it would be possible for someone to submit a link to invite discussion, without implying that the linked source is the last word (or even an adequate first word) on the subject.<p>What do you think? Does every link you submit come with your endorsement of truthfulness and accuracy?
======
mechanical_fish
HN guidelines strongly discourage editorializing in the titles of submissions,
and these titles can be edited after the fact by site editors.

Without the power to editorialize in the title, I don't think there's a good
way to distinguish between _submitting something that you agree with_ and
_submitting something that you would like to discuss, even though you disagree
with it_.

This is actually one reason why the anti-editorializing guideline makes sense.
We really don't want HN to clog up with links to bad arguments that need
refuting. There are far more bad articles than good ones, and the readers just
don't have the time to sort them out for themselves. That's what HN is
supposed to be doing for us! So we encourage people to submit only quality
links, or suffer the consequences to their own reputation.

I think it's important to remember that HN isn't designed to replace blogs. If
you want to start a critical discussion about some piece of content, write a
blog post that criticizes it, then submit that blog post. That's what I would
do.

~~~
tokenadult
_There are far more bad articles than good ones, and the readers just don't
have the time to sort them out for themselves. That's what HN is supposed to
be doing for us!_

That's an interesting perspective. That does suggest that the most suitable
way to get an interesting fact into discussion is to find the best available
Web link on that fact, to seed the discussion with a well-framed source.

------
unalone
Yes. I rarely submit; when I do, I only submit things that might actually
provoke interesting conversation.

~~~
niyazpk
Yes. The point is to start a meaningful discussion, not to spread ideas that I
support.

------
swombat
Most of the time, I submit things that I believe are worth reading.
Occasionally, however, I do submit things that I believe are worth discussing,
rather than reading (i.e. I don't agree with the point being made, but I want
to read the discussion of that point).

Usually, in the latter case, I get involved in the discussion too.

~~~
Tangurena
Same for me: submitting things that I think other folks would find
interesting. But I also tend to include a post that adds why I think the link
is important, or should be read.

------
pclark
Obviously. What I submit reflects upon me, and as a founder of a startup I
don't want to be known for submitting junk on one of the largest startup
communities.

~~~
johns
What if that junk starts a worthwhile discussion? I have occasionally been
known to post a junk link, but only because I see it as a starting point for a
conversation that is far more valuable.

------
justlearning
I don't submit(not yet!). I take fancy to the comments here. I read the
comments in depth and skim over any articles submitted.

I think, even a 'dumb' article gets decent conversations thread.

Accurate or not, it's the crowd that discusses that makes a molehill of a
mountain or otherwise.

PS: I used to think, I should comment on something I think I can talk about.
But now, I think on reflecting my opinion on my understanding. I don't care
about karma (points) as long as I express clearly what I 'thought' reading
thru..

------
raganwald
_Does every link you submit come with your endorsement of truthfulness and
accuracy?_

Absolutely __not! __Every link I submit comes with my endorsement that I have
actually read it and found it interesting. I have very low standards for
"interesting:" If there is one valuable thing in a post or article, that is
enough for me.

[http://weblog.raganwald.com/2007/10/how-to-use-blunt-
instrum...](http://weblog.raganwald.com/2007/10/how-to-use-blunt-instrument-
to-sharpen.html)

------
rksprst
To an extent. I think that the seriousness with which people take submissions
are a result of "peer pressure"/"crowdthink" and that some might even be
afraid to submit an article if they aren't sure its "on-topic" because of
karma/comments of other users. I have no proof, but I think that this happens
too much and interesting articles are not summited out of fear of not
conforming to the views of this community as a whole.

------
tokenadult
For the record, I have submitted articles whenever I thought they raised a
factual issue

a) that would be of interest to hackers,

b) that hasn't been discussed from that point of view recently (I tend to
search for previous submissions to HN before posting),

and

c) that is subject to illumination by further discussion from people of
differing points of view.

I definitely do NOT only post links that agree with my personal point of view
on issues. But based on how mechanical_fish and others replied below, I think
I'll impose a higher quality screen on future submissions from my keyboard,
agreeing with several replies here that there are A LOT of links out there
that are junk.

------
vaksel
I submit stuff that I think will be interesting to others.

But I don't endorse it as being accurate or truthful since most times I just
skim the stuff.

And yes a lot of my stuff have "bait" titles, because I use the quick-submit
that just uses the original post's title. You know:

javascript:window.location=%22[http://news.ycombinator.com/submitlink?u=%22+encodeURICompon...](http://news.ycombinator.com/submitlink?u=%22+encodeURIComponent\(document.location\)+%22&t=%22+encodeURIComponent\(document.title\))

