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by detaro 2916 days ago
To my knowledge, flagging is entirely a user action, so asking moderators why they flagged something makes little sense.

EDIT: and re the "I've never seen", e.g. just in the last few days I saw a comment asking people about their coworkers and their skin colors, and if they really knew any "really dark and not just mocha" ones that were capable. "All muslims are violent terrorists" is also something occurring every now and then. On the other side of the isle, I've seen people being (IMHO correctly) banned for too aggressively defending "SJW" ideas.
1 comments
horseLOGIC 2916 days ago
Fair enough, I don't understand the technical details.

The posts were hidden from the frontpage, by moderators, through whatever mechanism. Why? Not as technical question, but why was decision made to hide it? What's the argument behind doing something like that?

If any users can explain why they are flagging this post, I'd be interested in knowing too. To what end, exactly?

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detaro 2916 days ago
Users flagging affects the ranking quite drastically on its own (even before it's displayed as [flagged]), without any further moderator action. The system trusts users to do "the right thing" for this.
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horseLOGIC 2916 days ago
It wasn't the user flagging that caused this, it happened from one moment to another: http://hnrankings.info/17399895/

The moderators do not deny being responsible for it.

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detaro 2916 days ago
> It wasn't the user flagging that caused this, it happened from one moment to another.

How can you tell? Something being flagged by users looks exactly like this. Things rise to the front page, get more attention and age slightly, a few flags come in and push down the ranking.

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horseLOGIC 2916 days ago
Again, the moderation does not deny being involved.

I will concede though, I technically can't tell. However, if "a few flags" really can push an article from the front page down to page 10 within the course of five minutes I still have the following to say:

1. This system is easily abused

2. Accepting these flags on an article like this is accepting abuse, which is the purview of moderation

In other words, the system is laid out to hide anything that a few users don't like to be seen and the moderation supports that tacitly.

Why?

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dang 2916 days ago
Users flagged it. HN's system works this way. It works that way on both sides of most divisive issues, and each side always cries foul, bias, and help-help-I'm-being-repressed. In other news, the system is rigged, the refs hate your team, and the mods are against you. It always feels like this when one's views are passionate and a call goes the other way.

This sort of eternal argument doesn't lead anywhere, and I'm not seeing much indication of good faith here, just battling for one side against another. That happens to be a continuation of just what we're asking you not to do. If you want to smite enemies, please do it someplace else.

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