zlacker

There have been many threads about those topics (the situation as of a month ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23624962) and related topics. I particularly liked https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23669188 because it got so many comments from black HN users sharing their experience. Similar examples:

There's plenty of curious conversation there. There's also plenty of flamebait and flamewar, unfortunately, but that's unavoidable when the society at large is divided on a topic—or rather societies, since we have the added dimension of being a highly international community to deal with. The HN guidelines are written in such a way as to encourage the former and discourage the latter, but there are limits to what's achievable.

HN's mandate comes from how it was created. It has its particular niche. I think it's a good niche that is worth preserving, and I'm pretty sure the bulk of the community agrees, since that's why people come here. In a way, I like that you're questioning it, though. If the argument becomes "HN should have a different mandate", this suggests that it's doing an ok job of fulfilling the existing one.

replies(1): >>threat+w48