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Large community sites need never censor anything, then. For any subject even slightly controversial, there will always be at least some users flagging/reporting to justify removing it.

Wouldn't you consider selective enforcement a type of censorship?

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It's not selective enforcement.

HN users get to vote what shows up on the front page. A certain ratio of votes-to-flags triggers removal. It's no more censorship than voting for a politician censors their opponent.

I guess you're right, then, if it's truly always a result of user reporting and HN never overrides that. I know that's not the case for Reddit, so kudos to HN.

Sometimes we turn off user flags but as far as I know moderators haven't touched any of these submissions.

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