Most politics is off-topic for HN. Also, it typically leads to shouting matches, which are terrible discussions. It's not what HN aims for, and so political articles usually get flagged.
Arguably, this one is more on-topic than most politics. Also arguably, the discussion hasn't degenerated (yet). So, maybe flagged just because of politics, rather than because the discussion is awful.
By the way, flagging is done by users, not by the moderators. So it's us, not YC, that thinks this is problematic (or likely to become so).
"described a speech in which he “told a group of young entrepreneurs that the United States had become ‘the Microsoft of nations’: outdated and obsolescent.”
“The speech won roars from the audience at Y Combinator, a leading start-up incubator,”
I think this article is the most on-topic there could be.
The users here that want Tech News and Tech News only are doing themselves, and the community a disservice.
Well this part of the article could be one reason why:
Even more disturbing, however, is Balaji’s tight connection with Tan, the Y Combinator CEO who has publicly aligned himself with the Network State for years. “I legit believe [Y Combinator] is a prototype model for what @balajis talks about when he says the Network State,” wrote Tan in August 2022, shortly before he was named CEO.
Comments
Why is this article flagged? It seems very appropriate to be here.
Most politics is off-topic for HN. Also, it typically leads to shouting matches, which are terrible discussions. It's not what HN aims for, and so political articles usually get flagged.
Arguably, this one is more on-topic than most politics. Also arguably, the discussion hasn't degenerated (yet). So, maybe flagged just because of politics, rather than because the discussion is awful.
By the way, flagging is done by users, not by the moderators. So it's us, not YC, that thinks this is problematic (or likely to become so).
From the article:
“The speech won roars from the audience at Y Combinator, a leading start-up incubator,”
I think this article is the most on-topic there could be.
The users here that want Tech News and Tech News only are doing themselves, and the community a disservice.
I fear the flagging is most likely by people who sympathize with Balaji's worldview, and don't like reading the comments criticizing it.
Are not posts where there is a potential conflict of interest explicitly called out as something that HN works to not censor?
User flags can be overridden by moderators. There are some very notable examples, usually I have been very impressed by this.
So far, this is not one of those cases.
Well this part of the article could be one reason why:
Because $$$