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[return to "The Twitter Files, Part Six"]
1. archag+N41[view] [source] 2022-12-17 04:46:34
>>GavCo+(OP)
This was flagged previously. What makes an article qualify for manual unflagging? I've seen plenty of articles with relevance to the tech community remain flagged.
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2. dang+k91[view] [source] 2022-12-17 05:31:29
>>archag+N41
I wrote about this earlier today: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34020263. Does it answer your question?

I think Part One and Part Two had significant frontpage time on HN, then not so much until now. That raises the question (at least in my mind) what's different about Part Six? I think part of the answer is random fluctuation (you can think of HN's frontpage as a slot machine with 30 slots—it's not random, but randomness is involved), and part of it is maybe that the government involvement aspect makes the information here more significant.

When it comes to divisive topics, HN moderation spends a lot of time in the uncanny valley between the major ideological camps. This topic is a good example. One passionate subset of the community would like all of these submissions to get major attention, while an opposing passionate subset would like all of them to be soundly ignored. Our job is to somehow balance the conflicting vectors. That's not so easy, and also not so easy to articulate. The idea is not to maintain a centrist position*, it's to try to keep the community from wrecking itself via ideological fracture.

* for some reason that is a pet peeve of mine - https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

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3. GavCo+Kx1[view] [source] 2022-12-17 10:29:35
>>dang+k91
Really appreciate that you take the time to weigh in with these explanations. The moderation can feel heavy handed and arbitrary at times so these comments help to shine a light on the difficult balance you're trying to maintain. The explanation about SNI especially helped me understand some of the tough judgement calls that the mods need to make.

Is there a manifesto of some sort that defines the philosophy and approach of HN moderation? Or is just tribal knowledge that mods have built over time?

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