[Operyl]

> I "think", most of those debate ties with technology one way or another.

I feel that, if this is the reasoning it's becoming more prevalent, then it should be reeled in a bit. Politically charged topics seem to rarely bring in good-faith discussion I have come to expect from HN.

[WastingMyTime89]

They are easy to avoid howerver. Not participating in them and upvoting other contents solve the issue at least for yourself.

[Operyl]

I do avoid them, but they tend to crowd the front page where I feel like other topics that are more interesting and on topic for the site get left on pages 2-4, not seeing nearly as much interaction as they would have otherwise.

[edgyquant]

Incorrect. This is what we were told about Reddit as we watched it become basically unusable as a platform. Voting alone isn’t a proper way to guarantee quality discussion (the opposite actually.)

[pasadenasunset]

True, but whatever mechanism takes its place must contend with the fact that users vary in the extent they: 1) actively think of the larger community vs. themselves as a member; and 2) derive individual esteem from it.

As an example, the karma system at Reddit looks fine on paper relative to #1, but #2 is what created the phenomenon of meandering threads full of single phrase bad puns. The users are converging on a local maximum gain of esteem via upvotes, per unit of effort as measured by post length.

[astrange]

Reddit is essentially the only platform left, which makes it a difficult example of an unusable one. I think it's actually gotten so big that its old problems (every reply being the same joke) were solved by having new users voting that don't all like the same jokes.

[AlwaysRock]

Yup. This is the answer. If something political is posted its one of many items on the front page. Ignore it and upvote content you find interesting. Even better browse new posts instead of only the front or first few pages.

[greenyoda]

> Even better browse new posts instead of only the front or first few pages.

Yes! No story makes it to the front page unless enough people upvote it on the "new" page. Thus, upvoting a new a story gives you much more editorial influence over the contents of the front page than upvoting a story that has already made it there. (And it takes fewer people to flag away an off-topic story while it's still new.)

Another perspective: By browsing the front page, you're looking at stories that other HN readers find interesting. By reading the "new" page, you have the ability to promote stories that you think are interesting.