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Comment by dang | Hacker News Reader

Please don't take HN threads into hellish flamewar. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for.

I understand the provocation in the GP comment, but reacting in full flame mode, complete with insults, is exactly what the site guidelines ask you not to do.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Edit: you've started a bunch of other flamewars in this thread too. That's basically arson, regardless of right you are or feel you are. Please stop now.

(We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32023133.)

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What about this one?

> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.

I'm not quite sure what you mean? if you're asking why the Abe story didn't count as off topic under that guideline, I guess the gruesome reason is that a major assassination in Japan is somewhat of an "interesting new phenomenon"—not literally, but it hasn't happened in a very long time. Also, it contradicts many perceptions about Japanese society and culture.

Also, sometimes a story is so big that moderating it is effectively impossible—the more you bury it, the more it spawns new threads and gets upvoted. Trying to stand in the way just leads to it taking up more space and oxygen. In such cases, we've learned to allow one big discussion to absorb the interest, after which the community is usually ok with us marking reposts as dupes or follow-ups. People still need to follow the site guidelines in such a thread though.

I can respect the need to moderate incendiary remarks, but then why wasn't the parent post also reprimanded?

This parent? What is there to reprimand?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32023133

> This is a terrible tragedy. Shinzo Abe seemed like a good man. I hope he pulls through, though reading the comments here makes it seem less likely.

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