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by dang 534 days ago
I haven't buried this story. The users who flagged it are doing that. The data suggests they're doing that in good faith, as I've explained in several posts (for example https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42639323).

It's true that we (i.e. the moderators) sometimes turn flags off on a story, but we only do that when there's enough information in the story to support an intellectually interesting discussion, at least potentially. I don't believe that's the case here, and not because of Sam; the decision would be the same if you replaced his name with anyone else's. The "vested interest" here is not in protecting any person, it's in protecting HN for its intended purpose. I realize that not everyone agrees and not everyone likes this, but that's also the way HN works. Nobody, including me, gets all the threads they want on the frontpage.
1 comments
spockswrench 534 days ago
I'm 100% sure that in the past I've seen you say that you turn off flags on stories where HN has a vested interest because you don't want the obvious appearance that you're censoring it and you want to be neutral. Yet not only does this story not get that treatment, you personally dive in and make excuses and downvote commentors who, as expected, question the neutral nature of a site deeply involved with the subject matter. Don't want these types of accusations? Stick with your previously stated policy of disabling flagging on HN related topics.
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dang 534 days ago
No, the rule is that we moderate HN less, not more, when YC or a YC startup is involved in a story. In the present case, we haven't moderated the story at all, so there's nothing to do less of.

It's true that we've sometimes turned off or reduced the flags on stories in this category, but that has never been a rule.

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spockswrench 534 days ago
Well, you've pissed off a lot of people and I assure you that many are thinking the same thing I am. It makes Altman look more guilty and it makes you look complicit in covering that up. I'm actually surprised at how sociopathic the features of this site are. I can't think of anywhere else on the internet that's so clearly manipulated.
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