zlacker

Who decides what's "political"? Are discussions of regulations surrounding Uber political? The ongoing Tesla/dealership feuds? Using machine learning to detect fake news? New immigration policy that impacts H1B tech workers? The impact of Brexit on tech companies? Restrictions on cryptography?

I'm split on this: On one hand, firm moderation and keeping things on-topic makes for a good forum for discussion. On the other, this could easily be used by YC as a tool to say, silence criticism of YC for not disavowing Peter Thiel. Either way, there need to be clearer guidelines around what's allowed and what's not.

>>Arcsec+(OP)
this could easily be used by YC as a tool to say, silence criticism of YC for not disavowing Peter Thiel

Is there anyone here who hasn't read that criticism yet?

>>blfr+T
And read it right here on HN. There were more than a couple submissions that dealt specifically on this topic.

>>Arcsec+(OP)
"Political" = anything mods don't like. Soon this will be like reddit and other "politically correct" places. It would be nice to know about changes in mod positions, because I suspect there might be few in order to implement "correct" political atmosphere.

>>Arcsec+(OP)
> here need to be clearer guidelines around what's allowed and what's not.

We're happy to clarify (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13108614) but it's impossible to draw a precise line. Moderation is about a few core principles and a lot of case-by-case judgment calls, and it's inherently unsatisfying.

Whatever rules we have, though, we apply them less rather than more in cases where YC itself or a YC startup is at issue. That's one of the rules :)

>>dang+4r
This is amazingly naive. "We apply them less rather than more in cases where YC itself or a YC startup is at issue." You realize, of course, that YC, PG, and SA all drive the tech zeitgeist to some extent or another. News that affects YC itself is all tech and politics, because YC affects these things.

>>typoma+4C
By that logic it affects a butterfly in China too. I'm talking about what we can control.

>>dang+AY
Now you're being amazingly reductive to win a rhetorical point. HN drives a conversation. You are choosing to change the parameters of that conversation. You are making a political choice.

>>typoma+732
I don't care about rhetorical points but I do care about being able to truthfully say that we moderate HN less, not more, when stories about YC or YC startups are involved. That's a fact, and one we take particular care with.

>>dang+4r
Oh look, exactly what I was afraid of is already happening: https://twitter.com/jdp23/status/806236638783291392