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Comment by NSX2 | Hacker News Reader

Nah. That would make too much sense. Plus it would take away the top brass's options to censor stuff that users like to talk about because they find interesting, but, say, top people running this don't want to talk about. Or have others talking about.

Like over the summer there was this guy called "Y@mada" who weaved a boring tale of caution and tempering PGs unabashed optimism with some feet on the ground practicality as the economy was going to crash in a major way any second now. Obviously he was wrong because everything is smooth sailing, but PG didn't like this pessimistic world view so despite forums with like, 50-60-70+ posts, eventually the posts would just be deleted / marked "dead", etc.

But try something else. Put up a post like, "Ask YC: Do you sleep on your stomach or on your back, and which do you think is better for an aspiring programmer" and I GUARANTEE YOU that post will be up forever, sparking countless debate.

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To be clear: I'm not involved in running this site, but I'm happy with how it is managed. Perhaps if you don't like it, another site would be more to your liking? (http://startupping.com/ has some startup related content, for instance). Or perhaps you could adjust enough to get some value out of this one, as well as contribute value of your own? If not, it's not going to make anyone here very happy, neither you nor 'them', and therefore seems a bit of a pointless pursuit.

First, define "value" ... then refer to your own post on "Should Points-Based Ads etc.".

You think it's an interesting idea. I do as well. The poster does. As of now, that's it. Yet that's what I'd expect a lot more on Y.

But so far "is this troll trolling has 2 dozen posts" ... "is t.v. good or bad" attracted PG's attention and the second he comments his army of fanboys instantly add 50 more comments along the lines of "I agree with everything Paul Graham says."

Then new readers see the popularity and get sucked in.

So unfortunately, you could look at thinks like you described above, but something tells me you wish the "Should Popularity-based Advertising" etc. post got as much attention as the "Is T.V. good or bad?" post.

Which I doubt it will. I could be wrong. But I think this time tomorrow you, me and the poster will still be discussing it while everyone is rushing off to make sure everyone knows they agree with whatever post PG just made last.

Honestly when I was refered here I thought most posts would be along the line of the one like Popularity-points advertising, etc.

Creative new ideas meeting with technical talent.

Er, did you read the thread that got him banned? It wasn't clear whether he was a troll or just a total whackjob, but either way he had to go. It wasn't even a borderline case.

Well I do recall something to the effect of not being so quick to drop out of school / quit work and starting a startup without giving thought to the overall state of the economy because it was being artificially propped up by various methods. Now the economy's screwed up for, apparently, precisely that. I don't know how you define trolling or whackjob, but I think that was just common sense. People can't be whackjobs if they make unpopular predictions that wind up coming true.

I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about arguing that Y Combinator is a suicide cult and rambling about mind control conspiracies via the effect of electromagnetic resonance on the brain.

Wow. Got a link or saved copy?

I fall asleep on my stomach, then roll to my back while sleeping. That's the key to success. Anything less and YOU'LL NEVER GET ACQUIRED!!! Mwhahahaha!

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