Ask HN: Are Hacker News URLs safe to open?
Are user-submitted links safe to open? How does hacker news (or reddit, etc.) make sure submitted URLs are safe to click on?
No.
Well, most of them are, and when one that is unsafe is detected the mods kill it, and when the mods don't see it, the users put a comment and flag it (when it has enough flags, it is killed automatically).
Also, after a few (or even one) problematic submission, the mods may put the site in the autokill list, and ban the user. So most of the time the bad submissions are just [dead].
If you see something very bad, you can email the mods hn@ycombinator.com
To flag the stories you need 200 karma. Here you get one! Use the flag button wisely when it is available to you.
hit them up with a question or a concern, im sure they would rather answer a well thought out question than have to chase down a bunch of assumption based mistakes.
if the url comes from somewhere suspect use common sense thats your best defense. just like any open chat there are bad actors to recognize and avoid until you can flag.