[previnder]

HN is more or less moderated on similar guidelines, and the discussions here are better than on most online spaces I've been a part of.

I understand that one cannot draw a line to clearly separate categories from categories, but that doesn't mean that categories don't exist.

As to the definition of these terms, I was only thinking of their "common sense" meaning.

[carlgreene]

What is the common sense meaning of something being "political"? Do conversations around minimum wage count? What about current LGBT issues?

What is the common sense meaning of bigotry?

[elishah]

"No politics" is not a useful or viable rule. Any time that two humans interact with one another, even indirectly, there are politics involved.

[epcoa]

> HN is more or less moderated on similar guidelines

There’s plenty of political discussion on this site (the top 5 includes about ongoing EU legislation). There’s obviously some pretty heavy-handed moderation of it (not that it is inappropriate for this particular community), but no general forum will get very far with such a rule.

[ianburrell]

HN works partly because it is a single forum about technical topics. It excludes subjects that produce contentious discussion.

Reddit is a general forum. There are subreddits that are moderated heavily and need to be, and those that are barely moderated. There are subreddits for porn and politics because people want those. Reddit replacement needs to support multiple communities and varying moderation.

[detaro]

HN once tried a "no politics week". It was one of the bigger clusterfucks in the history of the site, and the experiment was quickly abandoned.

[djbusby]

What is common sense?

Grey lines are hard (impossible?) to enforce.