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by enraged_camel 3189 days ago
Not sure why it got flag-killed. I vouched it.

(The flagging system is in serious need of review or overhaul. At the very least, users should be required to provide a reason, which is then made publicly visible as anonymous comments.)
1 comments
sillysaurus3 3189 days ago
Nah, it's working fine. You vouched it. That's democracy, and one of my all-time favorite features of the site.

Mods also override flags and rollback the submission time on certain stories, particularly when they're substantive or offer new information.

FWIW, I couldn't figure out how to use this site. I tried scrolling down and clicking around and nothing was happening. Eventually I spotted the "next page" link at the very bottom, but I imagine some of the flags came due to similar reasons.

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enraged_camel 3189 days ago
No, the problem is that if I had not vouched it when I did, it would probably have fallen off the front page and never seen by most of the readers. Timing makes a huge difference and that's why the feature is broken and regularly abused.

In any case, page usability has never been a valid reason for flagging a site. Flags are usually reserved for sites that are grossly off-topic, sleazy, etc. Which again makes me wish flag reasons were a thing.

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sillysaurus3 3189 days ago
The mods will take care of cases like that, especially if you email them. The total amount of time on the front page will end up fair one way or the other.

I didn't mean to imply that it was flagged for usability. I was saying I didn't even notice there was more to the site at all. People may have thought it was just a splash screen.

It's more than a bit presumptuous to say we know better than the mods. Unlike downvoting (which is just straight-up broken at this point), the flagging/vouch system is primarily to aid the mods in their duties. If it made more work for them, they'd have to overhaul it. But it alleviates work, so it's working fine.

Also, you did vouch it. Which is just another way of saying that the current system worked.

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reitanqild 3189 days ago
Agree. I've decided to go mostly readonly and this is one of the reasons.

I now read HN mostly through either @hnrobot at Telegram or http://hckrnews.com/

Both those will let me see everything I find interesting that has been posted while nit having to worry about checking twice an hour to catch interesting stories before they are flagged to death.

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sillysaurus3 3189 days ago
hckrnews is good. I like the linear nature. But look at the actual articles that are currently dead.

Their silly CSS makes it impossible to copy-paste and filter by [dead], but suffice to say the headlines aren't flattering. The system seems to be working quite well.

The idea that a massive amount of quality is slipping through the cracks due to flagging is suspect at best. Anyone who spends significant time on /new will know just how much cruft is caught by flags. You just don't see how well it's working because wading through /new is tedious (to put it very mildly).

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