Tell HN: HN is becoming too political | Hacker News Reader

Tell HN: HN is becoming too political

13 pointsredm12 comments

HN has always stood out for its focus on tech, but lately, almost every thread drifts into politics. This community should be a respite from the political maelstrom found everywhere else.

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With the current world gradually going down into a maelstrom which I believe most of us have never seen, it is a bit difficult to completely avoid political topics. But I do agree that political topics without technical contents should be removed.

Politics shape every aspect of our lives. It is governance at the highest level (Plato named it "Techne Basilike"), and tech is directly impacted by policies, politics and everything in between. As long as the conversation stays civil and respectful, I see no issue.

Of course, one can always ignore threads or topics that are not interesting (i.e. politically charged topics are easy to spot and avoid).

ps. For me, this site's lowest point was when moderators insisted on keeping a thread about a technically complex attack, one that killed children and civilians, strictly "technical." I got strong "Into the Darkness[^1]" vibes.

[^1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562714.Into_That_Darknes... - Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience.

If that's true why are we discussing US partisan politics and not the fact that we're using the English language, itself a hegemonic auxiliary language imposed by the British Empire?

Let's be real here. "Politics shape every aspect of our lives" is code for "I want to discuss US partisan politics all the time because I'm very anxious about it."

I don't come to HN to offer therapy.

I agree. If I wanted to engage in political discussions or stay informed about current events, I could use Reddit or Bluesky. That's not what I come to HN for.

I don't think technology or finance is apolitical, regardless of what we want from it. Whether or not that justifies ignoring the political side should be up to the individual.

You might be out of luck when something isn’t what you wish it was. I’m here because the moderation is very good and to understand how the world works (both at macro and micro levels), despite the tech slop [1] (yet another redundant framework, all the AI drivel, what the latest hype cycle investment scam dressed as innovation is, etc). There is a hide button for threads not of interest [2], I find it useful to hide topics I'm not interested in, you might too.

This is not to say you cannot continue to find gems of interesting tech related posts, but I find them to be few and far between. I find the Ask and Show HN posts to be my favorites.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44484996

[2] Ask HN: Does anybody use the HN hide button? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34305451 - Jan 2023

(i am mindful that HN is the result of people who won the capital investment lottery creating a space to encourage intellectual curiosity, and i do my best as a participant to respect that [3]; there is no Dan or Tom equivalent elsewhere, they are the value here [among other mods not overtly public])

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43729126

When I think of content you'd find on HN, the essence is probably best captured by Paul Graham's essays. And yet, those are by and large political, in fact the very first one is. [1]

[1] https://www.paulgraham.com/prop62.html

Can you provide specific examples of threads that drift into politics?

Tech itself has become extremely political. Silicon valley tech (which is the main focus of HN) even more so, and more intentionally so.

Politics have escaped their sandbox, that's why. When you say "politics" what you actually mean is the disintegration of the whole system.

Maybe there should be filters? I prefer talking about politics with this crowd than say reddit or bluesky.

Well, there goes the neighborhood!8-((

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