Intellectual curiosity depends on how repetitive a topic is. The more repetitive it is, the less curious—curiosity withers under repetition: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
When there's a major ongoing topic (MOT), HN gets flooded with many follow-up submissions about that overall story. The test we apply in such cases is to ask whether a submission contains significant new information (SNI): https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu....
When a follow-up story doesn't contain significant new information, it falls on the repetitive side and tends to produce repetitive, generic discussions. Those are worse for intellectual curiosity: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que....
Worse, repetitive and generic discussions tend to devolve into flamewars. It's as if the mind resorts to conflict to amuse itself when there isn't any material for curiosity to play with: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
The key thing is whether the comments in such a thread are about interesting new information contained in the new article, or whether they could be copy/pasted from any other recent thread about the topic. HN thrives on diffs: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... Basically the question is: where's the SNI?
All: if any reasoning here is wrong or unclear, have a look at the above links. Then if there's still some question that hasn't been answered, I'd love to know what it is. These principles have built up over many years of operating Hacker News. The same situations and questions come up repeatedly; you'll notice that as we've posted explanations over the years, the answers have slowly been converging. That's I link so often to past explanations: in addition to giving more information, it lets readers see how the answers have developed and why they are the way they are.
The question of how to treat politics on HN is a hard puzzle. It has constraints that make a solution nearly impossible. Worse, without a solution, the site will destroy itself. My answer here (plus the links) is our best attempt at a solution. If anyone thinks they have a better solution, I'd love to hear what it is—but please familiarize yourself with the material first, because if it's something simple like "just ban politics" or "just leave the threads alone", I've answered many times already why that won't work.
p.s. If anyone doubts that the current topic is a MOT, I pasted a dozen links to major recent threads here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22902685. Look through them and you'll find plenty of generic discussion.
It is uncomfortable to acknowledge that the businesses we rely on exploit workers and abuse them. It is far more comfortable to "stay asleep" and preoccupy the mind with quirky intellectual diversions and fascinating little rabbit holes. In these times of economic crises, these sorts of pro-worker articles and sentiments increase dramatically. I support the author of this article despite the comforting detractors who would rather rationalize their treatment. The prevailing argument in this discussion is that the warehouse workers are ungrateful and too critical of their corporate masters, and this I find frankly to be disgusting.
HN is either a site for intellectual curiosity or a site for political battle. It can't be both, for the same reason that you can't have a tank battle in a flower garden or a museum.
I do not mean this as a dismissal of the issue! It's an important issue that workers be treated fairly. The question I'm talking about is much narrower: what do we do on Hacker News with MOTs (major ongoing topics) like this one? They will dominate the site entirely if allowed to (along with indignation-inducing posts generally). We can't simply let them go unmoderated—that would turn HN into a completely different kind of site, and not the kind that people currently come here for.
Amazon employees plan ‘online walkout’ to protest treatment of warehouse workers - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22900119 - April 2020 (135 comments)
Amazon fires two UX designers critical of warehouse working conditions - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22868054 - April 2020 (380 comments)
Dear Jeff Bezos, instead of firing me, protect your workers from coronavirus - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22770092 - April 2020 (132 comments)
Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse organizer - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22763057 - April 2020 (131 comments)
Amazon begins temperature checks and will provide surgical masks at warehouses - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22759575 - April 2020 (213 comments)
Amazon fires worker who led strike over virus - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22738592 - March 2020 (345 comments)
Amazon warehouse workers are walking out and Whole Foods workers are striking - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22736512 - March 2020 (76 comments)
Amazon fires warehouse worker who led strike for more coronavirus protection - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22733938 - March 2020 (9 comments)
Amazon, Instacart delivery workers strike for coronavirus protection and pay - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22729819 - March 2020 (276 comments)
Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22647605 - March 2020 (226 comments)
Amazon to hire 100k warehouse and delivery workers - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22597200 - March 2020 (318 comments)
Hundreds of workers defy Amazon rules to protest company's climate failures - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22167858 - Jan 2020 (65 comments)
Amazon threatened to fire employees for speaking out on climate, workers say - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21939451 - Jan 2020 (87 comments)