[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.