
BBC, CNN and HN - Protecting you from information - J3L2404
http://spaceagecoding.com/
======
ColinWright
Firstly, it seemed to me that yesterday I heard nothing but people talking
about "The Impending Ice Age." This isn't news to me, and it's not secret.

Secondly, all news sources have to decide what they will and will not report.
Sadly, this means that the news is in the hands of media types, most of whom
have no concept of what's important in science and what isn't. They constantly
distort and mis-report news, so you should never believe anything they say
anyway.

    
    
       They believe they are helping their users by withholding
       that information.
    

Thirdly, never ascribe to malice what is adequately explained by incompetence.

    
    
        Which brings us to HN. PG wants to protect you by
        withholding information about users opinions, comment
        scores. I don't want protection. I want to know the
        community's sentiment in and of itself, and as a gauge
        of how the userbase is changing and where it is right
        now. If civility is lacking in the discourse then the
        community needs to step up and downvote and flag. WE ARE
        NOT CHILDREN! The truth may be difficult but what is the
        point of anything without it. 
    

I don't agree with the hiding of comment scores, and I don't see that much has
been improved by it, but it is PG's right to make the experiment. If he
believes it will improve the community then it really is his place to make
that decision. I'm playing my part by continuing to contribute, comment, vote
and flag and I think are appropriate.

I'm also producing a site that I hope will cater more to my interests than HN
currently does. No doubt I will soon learn of the problems PG is currently
trying to control.

    
    
        I wouldn't have posted this except my earlier post
        was killed.
    

Was it? It's still there for me to see.

    
    
        Here is the AskHN I posted earlier which started
        getting traction but was killed by a moderator.
    

Are you sure? I have access to it:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2656651>

~~~
J3L2404
Thanks for replying and sorry I never got back to you about your experiments,
but I have been busy (but apparently not too busy to waste my time on this!).
I will try to be better about my emails. The AskHN wasn't officially killed
(more backdoor BS) it just can't be found except by direct link. I stopped
looking thru AskHN at 300. I can't stand people not being upfront. If you do
get an alternate site going I would love to help in anyway I can. Also HN
seems to think we are a voting ring because when I upvote you it doesn't
register. Whatever. I'll email you later.

~~~
ColinWright

        Thanks for replying and sorry I never got back to you
        about your experiments,
    

No problem ...

    
    
        The AskHN wasn't officially killed (more backdoor BS)
        it just can't be found except by direct link. I stopped
        looking thru AskHN at 300.
    

I suspect it was being flagged. There's a _severe_ penalty on the rankings of
items that get even a few flags. Your post has a hint of a rant, and no doubt
people think it doesn't belong on Hacker News. It's not about startups, it's
not about technology, it a conspiracy theory, and probably a few people
flagged it as being "inappropriate."

That's HN these days.

Plus it had a ranking penalty already for being an "Ask HN" rather than the
submission of a link.

    
    
        If you do get an alternate site going I would love
        to help in anyway I can.
    

Cool. Email me and I'll send you a link.

    
    
        Also HN seems to think we are a voting ring because
        when I upvote you it doesn't register.
    

<shrug> I've lost interest. I submit out of habit, read out of curiosity, and
go elsewhere for most of my interesting stuff. You may, however, discover that
if you wait 5 seconds and refresh the page then the upvote may count. It might
not, but in my experience it usually does, even if it didn't register
immediately. Just another consequence of the volume of traffic HN gets.

FWIW, here are the first few links after searching for "ice age" on Twitter:

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/14/ice_age/>

<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110614/ts_afp/usspacesun>

<http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2011/06/14/a-mini-ice-age/>

[http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/163264/20110615/sunspot-
acti...](http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/163264/20110615/sunspot-activity-ice-
age-maunder-minimum-corona.htm)

