

Ask HN: Why are mods burying NSA stories? - aburan28


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minimaxir
Note that submissions containing NSA in the title receive a super penalty by
default. (including this one)

[http://www.righto.com/2013/11/how-hacker-news-ranking-
really...](http://www.righto.com/2013/11/how-hacker-news-ranking-really-
works.html)

~~~
dang
I don't know what you mean by "a super penalty". It's a mild penalty (the
second mildest there is) applied algorithmically. It's been in place for over
a year. We've posted about it more than once.

It's an attempt to strike a balance. There are vocal people who feel that HN
has been overrun by NSA stories, and there are vocal people who feel that HN
outrageously suppresses NSA stories. We try to treat both as legitimate
branches of the community.

~~~
minimaxir
It's definitely a fair penalty, I'm not disputing that.

------
bendoernberg
Not only was my submission (formerly on the front page) buried, I've now lost
my ability to downvote submissions and comments. WTF? And I don't want to hear
about how the NSA's email surveillance isn't tech-related when the #1 post on
HN is "Abnormal Brain Structure In Youth Who Commit Homicide."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8008025](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8008025)

~~~
dang
Your account isn't penalized.

The story you submitted didn't get any special moderation penalty. It got a
mild automated penalty for being NSA-related (this has been in place for over
a year) and then it got several user flags. By the time you complained about
its rank dropping, it was already rising again. This is what happens when some
users upvote an item while others flag it.

The HN guidelines say that most stories about politics are off-topic. The
story you posted is pure politics. The thread immediately degenerated into
accusing Muslims of being fifth columnists and rapists. That's the kind of
thing that happens in pure political threads. (That one is particularly
dismaying, though. If there is anything less desirable on Hacker News than
religious flamewars, I can't think of what it might be.)

The HN guidelines emphasize that Hacker News is not all tech-related. Stories
of intellectual substance are welcome on all subjects. A scholarly paper about
brain research is plainly within this scope, even if it isn't a great
scholarly paper about brain research.

The HN guidelines ask you not to post complaints about moderation to Hacker
News itself, but instead to email hn@ycombinator.com, where we are happy to
answer questions. We can't always reply immediately, but we do reply.

