That's right. The job ads YC companies post here are.. job ads. The job ads any other companies would post here "as stories" would be job ads too! Go figure.
And just out of compulsion for technical specification, job ads for YC backed companies also lack a "flag" link.
They wanted to remind us that other companies can't advertise here, but also felt obligated to pretend that YC companies don't get any special treatment because they can't post job ads "as stories" either.
But in reality, rules concerning job ads are about job ads, not what constitutes a "story submission". Fair rules don't have tailor-made loop-holes for favoured companies either.
Note that I'm not actually opposed to YC posting job ads for YC companies here. It's their forum. I am opposed to dishonesty though, and that's why I commented.
Let me try again. There are three rules.
1. Anyone can post job ads to Who Is Hiring threads.
2. Only YC startups can post job ads to the front page.
3. No one can post job ads via /submit.
Why did I include that? Because we've noticed an uptick in YC startups mistakenly posting job ads via /submit instead of through the separate mechanism of #2. I wanted to let everyone know that these should be flagged just the same as any errant job ad. Otherwise users might see them and think, "well, YC startups are allowed to," when in fact they're not allowed to do it that way. The story stream (i.e. /newest) should be kept free of job ads by anyone.
I used the word "story" in the technical sense of what kind of post gets created when you post it via /submit. Job ads posted under #1 are comments; under #2 they're jobs; under #3 they're stories (and shouldn't exist). These are disjoint types.
I have to run out for a few hours now. I'll come back for the next round of bug fixes later.
no one is allowed to submit job ads as stories to HN
--> Alright, a general rule.
That includes YC startups
--> The general rule applies to YC companies too.
That's fair.
since the job ads we let them post are not stories
--> .. But the only reason it applies is because
YC job ads circumvent the submission mechanism
that can't be used for submitting job ads.
I have a problem with the wording because it's basically all about pretending that YC companies don't get any special treatment, based on the fact that they're not actually breaking the rules that apply to all companies.
But the only reason they're not breaking the rules, is that they get to circumvent them. That's special treatment right there.
Pfft. This took way longer than it should have. I'll just move on now.
This is false. No one is "pretending" anything of the sort, not now and not earlier. That ought to be clear from my second post, if not the first.
If we wanted to pretend something, we'd hardly specify its exact opposite in the FAQ.
That's far from the case. I spend less than 1% of my time thinking about job ads. I spend most of it thinking about the quality of stories and comments on HN.
HN is primarily a forum for intellectually interesting stories and civil, substantive discussion. Most, probably nearly all, of its value to YC is intangible. The quid pro quo of the job ads is relatively minor, but gets attention because it's visible.