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[return to "The Lonely Work of Moderating Hacker News"]
1. dunkel+xc[view] [source] 2019-08-08 12:25:30
>>lordna+(OP)
I guess it is a perfect opportunity to thank dang and sctb for their unobtrusive and friendly moderation efforts.

The article itself was a bit disappointing because it focused on political issues. In my opinion the strength of HN in this regard is that it is both a "sjw cesspool" and a "haven for alt-right", as evidenced by the fact that a comment on a controversial topic can easily float near zero points while raking in both upvotes and downvotes. And even those who refer to it as "the orange site" still come back and comment. In other words, HN may be an echo chamber but it is a pretty big one with a lot of voices in it.

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2. FussyZ+gj[view] [source] 2019-08-08 13:22:38
>>dunkel+xc
This is actually my sole complaint with HN. I love the community and I understand where the moderators are coming from, but I feel that it's important to point out that the position of "keep politics out of $X" is the purest expression of privilege, and in general is an attitude that embraces the status quo, no matter how horrifying it might be for the unprivileged.

I'm not saying HN should allow ALL political discussion, but when technological issues inevitably and undeniably involve politics, either by influencing or being influenced, it seems a little cowardly that the general attitude of HN is "just don't discuss it" when the it in that case is core to the issue at hand, even if it happens to be political.

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3. chuckg+6p[view] [source] 2019-08-08 13:57:55
>>FussyZ+gj
There's a time and place for that stuff though, if all of a sudden you start bringing up politics during your local Arduino project meetup you can't be surprised if they stop inviting you.

Hacker News sort of splits between technology and politics so drawing a line is a bit tricky.

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