zlacker

> There are a lot of comments in this thread thanking “the mods” and I didn’t realize there was a mod team cultivating the front page. Can anyone attest to this?

https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-silicon-valley/th...

>>hk__2+(OP)
I don’t get the impression from that article that Daniel and Scott are curating the front page in the way the thanks in this thread suggest. I am still of the impression that the front page composition is decided by upvotes, downvotes, and flags. Contrary to the implication in this repos’ text.

>>next_x+71
What is that impression based on?

>>next_x+71
Scott hasn't been a mod for years.

>>wolver+E2
The article, the HN's guidelines and FAQ, Dang's accumulated comments, etc.

>>next_x+71
Besides upvotes, downvotes, and flags, there are software penalties like the flamewar detector and various anti-abuse measures, and moderation downweights. We do a lot of the latter—I don't want to underemphasize this. The HN system is a combination of these three subsystems.

You're right that user flags do more than mods do, just because the numbers work that way: there are many orders of magnitude more users flagging things than there are mods.

Edit: 5 orders of magnitude more, in fact!