[luckylion]

There's no need to be part of a conspiracy to not want HN to turn into a CNN/BBC/Guardian RSS feed.

I get that you want to spread your message far and wide, but maybe this isn't the right place for it. Ads get flagged down, politics tend to get flagged down, celebrity news as well. There are other places for those.

[groundlogic]

Sure; I get that part.

But on the other hand, the message really seems to resonate with the average HN reader. Lots and lots of upvotes.. and then deletion.

[johnchristopher]

That could just mean news junkies are upvoting the dopamine outrage porn first because they check the front page more often than the majority of users who happen to flag it later because they aren't 24/7 on HN.

[PavlovsCat]

> That could just mean news junkies are upvoting the dopamine outrage porn first

I love how in any other context, that would give you a stern warning. Calling something "pearl clutching"? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20844863

Claiming people who are interested in some things that get flagged as "news junkies" out for "dopamine outrage porn", utterly dehumanizing them? That's just fine.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20791955

I made that list just from things I happened to notice, if I actually checked all penalized stories 24/7 it would be a lot longer. At this point it really takes outright attacking people like you did, while they are forbidden from doing the same, to pretend the pattern is not there. The usual "send us an email, we'll get back to you" is no help either -- you let public discourse be manipulated, it needs to be discussed in public.

> Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence.

-- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

By the way, this includes downvoting without reply, flagging, all that, the proof is in the pudding. Even after this topic has been flagged off the front page, I got 2 downvotes in 15 minutes? Seems like it's still being patrolled by "hooded executioners".

https://www.reddit.com/r/HongKong/comments/cxz64b/300_uncut_...

Sweeping totalitarianism under the rug has nothing to do with being a hacker or an intellectual, and trying to silence people silently, from the dark, is befitting.

[johnchristopher]

> Claiming people who are interested in some things that get flagged as "news junkies" out for "dopamine outrage porn", utterly dehumanizing them? That's just fine.

No, I am not claiming everyone interested in current HK events is a news junkie.

I am saying some posts get upvoted faster because people addicted to 24/7 constant information streams are massively upvoting them before it gets flagged by enough users that want to see different things on HN.

Also, there is a difference between being interested in something and updating a social status. HN news page isn't a community social status page to post our take on current events.

What do you want, anyway ? The whole front page full of links related to HK or your preferences ? There are newspapers, hashtag filters on twitter and RSS to get that. HN is a community-driven tech related link aggregator at its core. If someone really believes he can manipulate entrepreneurs, decision makers from SV or policy makers regarding global political events by tweaking the front page then I have a bridge to sell.

[PavlovsCat]

> I am saying some posts get upvoted faster because people addicted to 24/7 constant information streams are massively upvoting them

Except some things get sunk like a brick before they even garner 10 votes. It's a nice explanation, it just doesn't fit what we're seeing at all.

> Also, there is a difference between being interested in something and updating a social status. HN news page isn't a community social status page to post our take on current events.

That doesn't apply to the flagged stories I saw.

> What do you want, anyway? The whole front page full of links related to HK or your preferences ?

Why are you asking me this? I'm not the one flagging stuff, seeking to shape HN for others, if something doesn't interested me, I click "hide".

> HN is a community-driven tech related link aggregator at its core.

Except when it's not, and when "at its core" is just a weasel word.

> If someone really believes he can manipulate entrepreneurs, decision makers from SV or policy makers regarding global political events by tweaking the front page then I have a bridge to sell.

Then by the same token, it would be absolutely fine to curb that manipulation. If it doesn't have an effect, and nobody is forced to participate in discussions they don't like, and can even hide them so they have 30 topics that do interest them on the front page, what exactly is the use of allowing people to censor what others can talk about?

And mind you, there's a million subjects where everything you said applies, and they're not a problem at all. The CCP is driving this, nothing else.

[johnchristopher]

> Except some things get sunk like a brick before they even garner 10 votes. It's a nice explanation, it just doesn't fit what we're seeing at all.

I believe some sources are automatically weighed down based on url.

> That doesn't apply to the flagged stories I saw.

I checked half your list and found no flagged stories. I saw comments and discussion though.

> Why are you asking me this? I'm not the one flagging stuff, seeking to shape HN for others, if something doesn't interested me, I click "hide".

You are the one complaining you don't see what you want to see on the front page.

> Except when it's not, and when "at its core" is just a weasel word.

Some people on HN will argue to death that it's a social network. I disagree as well. It's a link list curated by registered account upvoting and downvoting stuff with some kind of anti-spam filter in between.

I don't think you can be reasoned with if you hold the position that downvoting/upvoting/flagging is downright censoring.

Now the truth is, you haven't really provided yet solid evidences of tampering attempts from the CCP (or anyone else) on HN. Not saying it doesn't exist, though.