[orthoganol]

You know Sam, if you stopped censoring controversial positions or posts from hacker news I might take you seriously.

Coming from someone who is now almost automatically moved to the bottom of threads or the ridiculous "See More" section you all implemented, who as a result just doesn't post much anymore.

[dang]

Sam doesn't do any of that. I do, so you should take it up with me.

"Censorship" and "moderation" sometimes refer to the same thing from different points of view. The basis of HN moderation is not ideological agreement or disagreement, but the site rules at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Most of the time when people complain that they've been censored/moderated because of their "controversial positions", they're unaware or don't want to admit that they broke the site guidelines. Of course we also make mistakes.

[Gargoyle]

I do think this is one place he could put his money where his mouth is. Completely revamp the culture here, on this board that represents his company.

[dang]

IMO YC could legitimately respond to that one like Odetta did when Joan Baez said "you taught me how to sing": "Oh baby, don't you blame me for that".

[Gargoyle]

That the paid moderator of this site would respond like this is unsurprising.

And yet the position of moderator is one that could do wonders for setting a better culture.

[dang]

Maybe someday I can persuade you that it's a harder problem than it seems. But my point was that the things people post on HN no more represent YC, let alone Sam, than YouTube comments represent Larry and Sergey.

[Gargoyle]

I understand taking leadership to change a culture is a difficult task. But when you have the actual means and influence to do it and choose not to do so, you do hold some responsibility for the results.

HN does in fact reflect on YC and Sam, whether you want it to or not. It's their site. And in a different way than Youtube is Larry and Sergey's site (something I at least hope you understand), though even they don't escape responsibility for what shows up there.

[nine_k]

Could you please point at a few controversial topics (not off-topic discussion threads) that have been censored here?

I'm genuinely interested.

[exolymph]

It depends on your definition of "censored" but culture war topics that are relevant to the tech industry frequently get flagged off the front page.