I'm not going to pile on by posting a moderation warning in this context, but I do want to respond to one point you made:
this hive of nobodies is allowed to run rampant here, with no moderation
You're quite right that there are many bad comments that don't get moderated on HN. The simple reason is that we don't see everything that gets posted here, or even 10%. There's far too much! It is humanly impossible to read it all (and would be, even if we didn't have many other time-consuming responsibilities, which we do).
Moderation is inconsistent, not primarily because we apply the principles badly (though perhaps we do—we're certainly imperfect), but because you're looking at a rather random sample of comments that have had moderator attention, and a whole lot more that haven't. Cnsistency is impossible (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...), for much the same reason that not everyone who is speeding on a highway gets pulled over.
Therefore, if you see a post that ought to have been moderated but hasn't been, the likeliest explanation is that we didn't see it (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...). You can help by flagging it or emailing us at hn@ycombinator.com.
Unfortunately, this all boils down is a bad look. Anyone who reads HN a lot will see a lot of bad posts, including many that break the site guidelines and get away with it. That is going to create annoyance and irritation, and a lot of that is going to get directed at the moderators for being a bunch of... well, I'll let you fill in your own pejoratives. Too bad for us, but it does go with the job.
Well your team never fails to flag my comments when I am espousing a viewpoint that goes against an established community view, such as manic, unhinged hatred of America’s current leadership, or if I’m critical of Europe’s ability to ship a meaningful volume software products.
I have no idea if you’re an ideologue or not, but my perception of the moderation team here is that political ideology and general SV narratives dominate your moderation strategy.
While we’re on the topic — it would not be very costly for you to employ a local LLM cluster and work queue to auto-moderate geopolitical topics that aren’t “tech enough” from ever seeing the light of day. Because the way it’s working now is the “I hate Trump” people spew the most insane flamebait imaginable, but they ensure ALL replies that disagree are flagged.
Clear thinking and rationality is not being prioritized here like it used to be. If your team is trying to do that, then whatever methodology you’re using is not working.
Its good that you're listening to the lefties, but are you listening to the right too? You know the guys I'm talking about. Something tells me you might be giving your own a pass on this very behavior you're accusing us lefties of.
Whatever behavior you’re pretending is engaged in by the right certainly isn’t happening on this website. Leftism requires censorship to function. These mods know exactly what they’re doing.
Comments
[flagged]
I'm not going to pile on by posting a moderation warning in this context, but I do want to respond to one point you made:
You're quite right that there are many bad comments that don't get moderated on HN. The simple reason is that we don't see everything that gets posted here, or even 10%. There's far too much! It is humanly impossible to read it all (and would be, even if we didn't have many other time-consuming responsibilities, which we do).
Moderation is inconsistent, not primarily because we apply the principles badly (though perhaps we do—we're certainly imperfect), but because you're looking at a rather random sample of comments that have had moderator attention, and a whole lot more that haven't. Cnsistency is impossible (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...), for much the same reason that not everyone who is speeding on a highway gets pulled over.
Therefore, if you see a post that ought to have been moderated but hasn't been, the likeliest explanation is that we didn't see it (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...). You can help by flagging it or emailing us at hn@ycombinator.com.
Unfortunately, this all boils down is a bad look. Anyone who reads HN a lot will see a lot of bad posts, including many that break the site guidelines and get away with it. That is going to create annoyance and irritation, and a lot of that is going to get directed at the moderators for being a bunch of... well, I'll let you fill in your own pejoratives. Too bad for us, but it does go with the job.
Well your team never fails to flag my comments when I am espousing a viewpoint that goes against an established community view, such as manic, unhinged hatred of America’s current leadership, or if I’m critical of Europe’s ability to ship a meaningful volume software products.
I have no idea if you’re an ideologue or not, but my perception of the moderation team here is that political ideology and general SV narratives dominate your moderation strategy.
While we’re on the topic — it would not be very costly for you to employ a local LLM cluster and work queue to auto-moderate geopolitical topics that aren’t “tech enough” from ever seeing the light of day. Because the way it’s working now is the “I hate Trump” people spew the most insane flamebait imaginable, but they ensure ALL replies that disagree are flagged.
Clear thinking and rationality is not being prioritized here like it used to be. If your team is trying to do that, then whatever methodology you’re using is not working.
We can’t lose HN. But it feels like we are.
Its good that you're listening to the lefties, but are you listening to the right too? You know the guys I'm talking about. Something tells me you might be giving your own a pass on this very behavior you're accusing us lefties of.
Whatever behavior you’re pretending is engaged in by the right certainly isn’t happening on this website. Leftism requires censorship to function. These mods know exactly what they’re doing.
"pretending" good one lol