[cityhomesteader]

I've noticed that as well. Just a guess, but certain news organizations are given "special treatment" lately.

Almost everyday, I see a post from select news sources with 1 or 2 upvotes and no comments very high on the frontpage.

Also, is it just me or has hacker news slowly shifted from being about technology to more politics?

And a final observation, what's with the neverending submissions about facebook?

[dang]

> Also, is it just me or has hacker news slowly shifted from being about technology to more politics?

People have been saying this for about as long as HN has existed, but it isn't true. HN is a mix, it's always been a mix, and the proportion of politics in the mix has gone down somewhat. Why do people perceive the opposite? Because of the cognitive bias where whatever you dislike stands out more. The users who wish HN would have more politics believe that the trend is just the opposite way (a la 'political stories are being increasingly suppressed' and so on).

For anyone who wants details, I wrote a detailed post about this a few weeks ago with tons of examples, so I could link back to it when this issue inevitably comes up again. It's here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17014869.

p.s. There's no special favorable treatment of any publication on HN. We do penalize sites that have been the source of too many off topic or lightweight submissions in the past.

[wrp]

Although the political/technical balance may have stayed the same, I expect that the recent trend to keep old posts on the front page longer would heighten any perception of bias.

I for one have been finding coming to HN much less rewarding lately. I have to search more pages to find interesting posts.

[dang]

It would be helpful if you'd include the newest page in your search routine and vote for interesting things.

[mmt]

Just the one (first) page of newest articles? Is that enough?

[dang]

The more the better!

[aaronarduino]

Has that proportion of politics gone down on the front page or just over all of HN?

[dang]

I'm talking about the front page because, for better or worse, it's approximately all that anyone looks at.

[at-fates-hands]

>> Almost everyday, I see a post from select news sources with 1 or 2 upvotes and no comments very high on the frontpage.

I've noticed this a lot lately as well. I always think, "I wonder how this got to the front page with zero comments, but a ton of upvotes."

Any of those posts seem suspicious to me since the MO for HN seems to be if it's good, it should generate some discussion on its way to the front page. Unless they're trying to circumvent the algorithm that pushes stories with more comments than upvotes?

>> Also, is it just me or has hacker news slowly shifted from being about technology to more politics?

Yes.

I'm seeing more and more political stuff, which is NOT the reason I come here. If I want a political flame war, I can go over to Reddit. TBH, I don't come as often anymore because it seems everything gets turned into something political.

[yorwba]

> if it's good, it should generate some discussion on its way to the front page.

That is not how HN works. Posts start on the "new" page, once they get three upvotes they show up on the front page, then they get more attention and, if there are enough upvotes to make the submission stay, a discussion develops.

If you don't like the topics that show up on HN, try submitting more interesting stories and occasionally check the "new" page to upvote other submissions.

[aaronarduino]

I agree HN has been becoming more about politics and non-tech focused submissions. I'm wondering if this change in content is due to the community or HN's ranking algorithm. Either way, I'm starting to look for a more tech-focused community.

[megaman22]

There's a few very common news outlets that are always on the front page with not-very-interesting stories that I've resorted to just flagging and hiding automatically. Especially when you realize they trot out the same story or opinion piece every three weeks, it gets really tiresome. If I don't do this, sometimes more than a third of the front page is garbage pieces from these half dozen or so outlets.

[creep]

>facebook

The nature of tech communities is that we tend to value privacy, so I think perhaps the Facebook issue is pushed here vigorously by zealot-types to try and "win the team" or by agents who have vested interest in seeing Facebook destroyed. It's a bandwagon thing mostly though.