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Comment by detaro | Hacker News Reader

To my knowledge, flagging is entirely a user action, so asking moderators why they flagged something makes little sense.

EDIT: and re the "I've never seen", e.g. just in the last few days I saw a comment asking people about their coworkers and their skin colors, and if they really knew any "really dark and not just mocha" ones that were capable. "All muslims are violent terrorists" is also something occurring every now and then. On the other side of the isle, I've seen people being (IMHO correctly) banned for too aggressively defending "SJW" ideas.

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Fair enough, I don't understand the technical details.

The posts were hidden from the frontpage, by moderators, through whatever mechanism. Why? Not as technical question, but why was decision made to hide it? What's the argument behind doing something like that?

If any users can explain why they are flagging this post, I'd be interested in knowing too. To what end, exactly?

Users flagging affects the ranking quite drastically on its own (even before it's displayed as [flagged]), without any further moderator action. The system trusts users to do "the right thing" for this.

It wasn't the user flagging that caused this, it happened from one moment to another: http://hnrankings.info/17399895/

The moderators do not deny being responsible for it.

> It wasn't the user flagging that caused this, it happened from one moment to another.

How can you tell? Something being flagged by users looks exactly like this. Things rise to the front page, get more attention and age slightly, a few flags come in and push down the ranking.

Again, the moderation does not deny being involved.

I will concede though, I technically can't tell. However, if "a few flags" really can push an article from the front page down to page 10 within the course of five minutes I still have the following to say:

1. This system is easily abused

2. Accepting these flags on an article like this is accepting abuse, which is the purview of moderation

In other words, the system is laid out to hide anything that a few users don't like to be seen and the moderation supports that tacitly.

Why?

Users flagged it. HN's system works this way. It works that way on both sides of most divisive issues, and each side always cries foul, bias, and help-help-I'm-being-repressed. In other news, the system is rigged, the refs hate your team, and the mods are against you. It always feels like this when one's views are passionate and a call goes the other way.

This sort of eternal argument doesn't lead anywhere, and I'm not seeing much indication of good faith here, just battling for one side against another. That happens to be a continuation of just what we're asking you not to do. If you want to smite enemies, please do it someplace else.

I'm glad to hear that the system indeed at least works equally badly for "both sides". It wasn't clear to me at all.

I refuse your attempt at categorizing me. This isn't a battle. I don't want any "pro-SJW" content hidden from the front page either, just because a few people don't like it. That's not what user flagging is good for.

My point stands: As moderators, why do you accept these bad-faith flags that have a huge impact on visibility? With this policy, you are supporting the extremists on both ends.

My recommendation is that you answer that question for yourself by studying what this community is and how people tend to react to stories of the kind you're advocating.

My studies show that you must have a community of adult children who throw a tantrum when they encounter something they don't like, combined with a group of exhausted parent moderators who let them have their way, against better judgement.

I recommend family therapy.

Breaking the site guidelines like this, after all of the above, is a clear indication that you don't mean to use HN as intended, so I've banned the account.

If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.

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