Ask HN: What is HN doing to stop foreign misinformation during Covid-19?
In this short intense time period misinformation will amplify economic changes quickly, we should assume all sites are under some sort of attack.
Has HN increased security?
Has HN increased security?
Foreign, domestic, deliberate or otherwise.
Like, if they're not making money from adds or in-app purchases (aka reddit gold), then their value is in shaping consensus.
So assume everything on here has some freakin HUGE biases.
The way to maximize HN's value for YC is to have HN be as good as possible, where 'good' means gratifying intellectual curiosity. That's what makes the community happy, and the community is what's valuable about HN. Since a happy-community HN is the most valuable-to-YC HN, that's all we try to optimize for. HN is in an odd sort of sweet spot on the internet where the way it can best serve the business interests of its owner is simply by being as good as possible. We don't have to juice engagement, pump numbers up, and so on. We can just be 'bookish', something pg used to say he wanted for this place. Like I said, we're lucky that way.
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
So no, we don't focus on promoting startups or keeping discussions about YC startups as positive as possible. (There are plenty of negative ones. Just look in on any Airbnb thread.) The community wouldn't be happy if we did that, nor would it be good for intellectual curiosity, so we don't. We do use moderation as a counterweight against predictable indignation in general (on any topic). But we do that kind of moderation thing less, not more, when YC or YC startups are involved—see https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu....
There are three formal things that HN does do for YC: job ads for YC startups (which appear on the front page and then https://news.ycombinator.com/jobs), Launch HNs for YC startups (which appear on the front page and then https://news.ycombinator.com/launches), and usernames of YC alumni appearing in orange to other YC alumni. Those are definitely special privileges. We do that as a way of giving back to YC in exchange for funding HN. But we keep them very delimited and explicit. I really need to add this to the FAQ.
It is ironic you mention the World Health Organization as a source of truth given this tweet:
>If you do not have any respiratory symptoms, such as fever, cough, or runny nose, you do not need to wear a medical mask. When used alone, masks can give you a false feeling of protection and can even be a source of infection when not used correctly.[0] - WHO Twitter Account
I put a spin on it:
>If you are not drunk, you do not need to wear your seat belt. When used alone, seat belts can give you a false feeling of protection, and can even be a source of accidents when not used correctly.
>The most simple face mask (not a gas mask) does not protect you from environment, it protects other people from you.
>Moreso a mask can be a cause for reinfection with virus, since you are breathing back in what you exhale.
>Hoarding prevention is also a very important task in the midst of a crisis. Hence WHO recommendation is justified.
These three sentences can be boiled down to:
- WHO's recommendation is justified to prevent the hoarding of that item because:
If you're sick, wearing it will harm you and protect others. If you're not, it's useless to you.
Therefore, only sick people wanting to remain sick should wear them. That excludes physicians who may not be sick, and do not wish to remain sick if they already are.
Furthermore, is the protective property on the simple face masks anisotropic? How does it protect in a way and not in the other? Does a mask of non null thickness and non null fabric count protect less than no material? Will it prevent absolutely no harmful particle from getting to me?
Sick++|| Healthy (works when sick wears it)
Sick+ +||Healthy (fails when healty wears it)
When a healthy person inhales wearing a mask big part of the air comes from the side, because it's an easier route and because fluid dynamics. Then healthy person touches their eyes with unwashed hands and still gets infected.
Official recommendation for sick people as far as I am aware is to change the mask every couple of hours, because by then enough fluid accumulates on the mask to pose threat.
"it's useless to you" - it's a freaking pandemic - nothing is about you, the fight is to stop exponential growth of the infected.
Yes, and I'm doing my part by establishing work from home for the company, and staying home for weeks. What I'm asking is that the leading authorities not indulge in fuckery by spreading misleading information on how masks are useless for sane people on one hand, and on the other hand urge people to leave these masks to medical professionals.
I'm doing my part to stop the exponential growth, they need to do theirs. One good start is not to spread lies.
Now that is helpful!
What exactly you see as lies?
The World Health Organization saying that wearing masks does not work, and misguiding people on a planetary scale.
A mask is better spent on a sick person.
Therefore a healthy person should concede a mask to a sick.
Or maybe this is gonna be more illustrative: Let's say you are a magicall 100% efficient authority. You have 1000 people on your hands and only 500 masks. What is the course of action that yields least amount of deaths? Yep, you lock away all the masks and give them away to sick people.
It is wartime logic - deaths are inevitable and if you shoot in the head people hoarding masks you will DECREASE total deaths.
WHO says masks do not protect people who do not have coronavirus and they shouldn't wear them, only people who have coronavirus should wear them not to infect others.
WHO says shortage in masks is putting healthcare professionals at risk of being infected by coronavirus, so stop buying masks
This is similar to saying that kevlar vests do not protect you so stop buying them, and that you buying them puts soldiers at risk because they need their protection.
Here's a tweet from the U.S. Surgeon General[0]:
Quote:
""" Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!
They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk! bit.ly/37Ay6Cm """
[0]: https://twitter.com/Surgeon_General/status/12440202923658158...
1. Intel. Nothing can protect you from an aviabomb except you knew it was coming and hid before bomber arrived.
2. Your squad.
3. Military training.
4. Good supply lines.
5. A TON of other gear.
6. A vest.
Now let's say you bought a vest in the warzone and military didn't have enough because of that and lost and now enemy approaches you. Is a vest going to protect you? No, absolutely not. Not in the slightest. The fact that a kevlar vest can stop a bullet means zilch if battle is lost. The enemy doesn't even need to come to you, now that they control infrastructure you will come to them and do whatever they say because otherwise you'll starve (if economy collapses you have greater chances of dying then from contracting covid-19).
> buying them puts soldiers at risk because they need their protection
Yes, exactly that. So yes, stop buying vests, because military can use them to protect themselves and you and you can't.
> 1. Intel. Nothing can protect you from an aviabomb except you knew it was coming and hid before bomber arrived.
We're talking about bullets and Kevlar vests. That's like saying a vaccines do not protect you from a bomb so vaccines are useless. It's like saying that locking the door is useless because there are thieves who know how to pick locks. Or that putting a seatbelt is useless because a plane can crash down on you. I don't think this is how the world works, nor do I think this is how a human thinks. It's a spectrum with tradeoffs.
Kevlar vests protect you from bullets. You are more protected than someone without a Kevlar vest. Wearing a mask protects you. you are more protected from bullets wearing a protective vest.
I really hope you are trolling. If not, I hope you are in charge of no people. If you are, I hope they have common sense and don't listen to you. If they can't, I hope you don't nobody suffers the consequences of your judgment and logic. I'm at the point I really hope I've been fooled by a chat bot.
All the best.
Please, no need to devolve into insults. I really believe you don't understand what WHO is actually saying about masks. But I don't think you are a bad person or something. If what you said about setting remote workspace for your company is true, it is likely you have actually saved a life. See, it is not that hard to commend a person you are arguing with.
I think you misunderstand that WHO is not your personal physician, nor it should be. When they say "masks don't work on healthy people" they are not trying to say "a single mask doesn't work on a single person". That is what you seem to hear, but that isn't what they are trying to say. What they say is "If we as a society, spend all our masks on healthy people, it won't work to stop pandemic".
A mask spent on a healthy person is not useless, it's wasteful. If you don't want to contract desease you should stay at home, that is a solution. A mask despite being mildly useful is not a solution. You are still very likely to contract desease wearing a mask, if you do not follow other rules that you tend to ignore.
Kevlar vest can stop bullets, but it is not a complete solution, because bullets is not the thing that kills the most in a war, by far.
Just try to answer this: what makes you safer, wearing a vest, or donating it to a soldier who doesn't have one?
>If what you said about setting remote workspace for your company is true, it is likely you have actually saved a life. See, it is not that hard to commend a person you are arguing with.
We've been doing it for more than a month, and your comment confirms you are trolling. Now I only hope you truly do not think what you said is true for your own sake, and hope that no person actually depends on you for their sake.
All the best to you, fellow human.