You know what someone should make in 2014? A website scrapes/mirrors HN, but only the topics about gender and race that get "disappeared"(made undiscoverable) from HN in under 20mins.
I don't know if there's a certain group of people flagging these types of articles for whatever reason, or if pg/admins actively want to avoid this kind of social discussion (maybe it's too 'controversial' or tends to degenerate too easily?) or something else.
But you're exactly right -- a gender/race article suddenly jumps from the #10 spot, to third-page, effectively completely killing discussion. It does feel an awful lot like censorship, and it seems unfortunate.
And because of it, pretty much nobody except you will probably ever see this comment. Oh well.
1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6885123 - Homeless coder starts app
2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6365495 - Africans genetically more corrupt?
3. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6448409 - Rick Ross's history
4. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6857739 - Nelson Mandela dies
5. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6035263 - (Most obvious)Resume with black vs white name
6. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6902563 - racist+sexist mindset in Harvard
7. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6907915 - Homeless coder finishes app
8. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6975732 - BlackGirlsCode event