[Lewton]

@dang anything mentioning Wagner group is being flagged off the main page, I could see why some people would react that way when there’s a 20 articles shared about the same thing in an hour, but it’s a bit disturbing that there’s currently zero articles on the front page about this

[marak830]

There is a more and zero chance that those flags are not from general user accounts. Also @danf doesn't actually taf him from what I have read, there is an option at the bottom of the page(apparently, I've never used it XD)

Edit:

mailto:[e-mail]

Is the link at the bottom.

[93po]

I would bet it’s almost entirely authentic flagging. News about Russia’s invasion has a lot of propaganda and unverified reporting, and I imagine HN users are tired and skeptical of anything on the news about it.

For context, I’m not at all denying the invasion or how awful it is. I’m only saying there is extreme hyperbole at times in the same way there is about controversial political figures in the US

[marak830]

My apologies for the typos I just noticed and I was super busy at the time :-(

[sph]

Quit using HN for general news. Go to your favourite news website, they all have a live section about this unfolding event.

I could not care less what software engineers have to say on the matter.

[dmarchand90]

There is precedent for hackernews covering unusually large and important events. Covid, Jan 6th, the start of the Ukraine War. I don't see the problem with some general news of large scale importance, e.g., a hostile mercenary force is a 4 hour drive away from the capital of the state with the largest supply of nuclear weapons

Agree we shouldn't lose focus but this seems rare and important enough to be worth discussing.

From the guidelines of what is off-topic "Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon."

[ModernMech]

Slashdot used to get complaints like this all the time (maybe still does, wouldn't know). They would be followed by a recitation of the Slashdot motto: "News for nerds, stuff that matters. This is a story that matters." Usually shut people up immediately. HN also suffers nerds not wanting to hear about anything except nerd shit, but we don't have a handy shorthand to shut down these tedious complaints.

[mtlmtlmtlmtl]

I mean, I get your point that others programmers are not usually were I go for political wisdom. But it's not like mainstream news website have a better alternative for discussion either. Their comment sections tend to be completely saturated with far right incel fanaticism and low brow outrage. HN, at least, is not that.

[soupfordummies]

Yeah and what's wrong with techies?! We're a pretty smart bunch I like to think ;)

[jona-f]

I didn't know about swiftcentre, or metaculus and I'm fascinated by it. That's exactly the software engineer approach to this topic i like to see when i come here.

[bitcharmer]

The main page is heavily curated by dang and only features what he likes. For actual popular content I just go to /active

[93po]

What you’re implying is not true at all. I am massively critical of online moderation and dang and his team definitely curate a lot but it’s done very transparently when potentially controversial and he has an extremely reputable track record

[Lewton]

“and only features what he likes” that’s not remotely true

[lost_tourist]

thanks! I didn't know about that

[ModernMech]

Almost 10 years on HN and I've never known about this. Thanks.