zlacker

>>Berisl+(OP)
Is there ever a way to see why an article was flagged and hidden on HN?

>>_heimd+Wa
Almost always when an article is flagged, it's done by individual users. Other than asking those users why they flagged it, there is no way to know their reasons. Currently, there is no good way of asking these users. I've long felt that adding a required "reason" field when flagging would be useful.

A slightly different question is why this article is marked as [flagged] but not [dead]. Often (usually?) when an article is flagged by multiple users, it's also killed and made invisible (except to users with "showdead" turned on). Users with sufficient karma can then "vouch" for dead stories to revive them.

But when a story is [flagged] but not [dead], no user remedy is possible. The story is penalized to not appear on the front page, but the comment page is still usable. I think this state happens after a manual review: users flag, Dan assesses, and then decides that penalized but alive is the best outcome.

But maybe there is some other way it can end up like this? I'll write to Dan and ask.