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Comment by ceejayoz | Hacker News Reader

> There isn't a voting system so people can democratically decide what content is good or bad.

I'm confused. Comments have up/down voting, and posts have up voting and flagging.

> In a democratic system like Reddit, there might be objections to changing the titles or shadowbanning trolls (reddit does shadowban, but mods can't shadowban people for disturbing the quality of a subreddit). On Hacker News, these features are welcomed because they raise the quality of discourse.

I've seen both people posting "you're hellbanned and it doesn't look warranted" and productive, moderator-accepted complaints about changing titles.

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>I'm confused. Comments have up/down voting, and posts have up voting and flagging.

The voting system exists so that the community can raise productive comments, and lower unproductive comments. It's impossible for Paul Graham himself to come to every thread and say which comments are good and bad. We have to help how we can.

>I've seen both people posting "you're hellbanned and it doesn't look warranted" and productive, moderator-accepted complaints about changing titles.

The Y Combinator is reasonable, and human. It has a set of rules it attempts to operate by, but human agents occasionally violate their own rules. Ultimately, all decision-making authority rests with them, not the community.

But the fact they exist is difference enough to demonstrate my point.

"The voting system exists so that the community can raise productive comments, and lower unproductive comments" sounds like "a voting system so people can democratically decide what content is good or bad". What's the distinction you're trying to make?

The community does not decide what is good or bad. Paul Graham has already decided that. There is no democracy.

I am new to HN, but you say Paul Graham has already decided.

Check out this article: http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/29/after-stepping-aside-from-y...

Also, your comment was still allowed to post.

I accidentally downvoted you when attempting to pinch-zoom on my phone. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make that mistake. I wish we had the feature to undo things like that.

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