[Eisenstein]

There is a saying that if everyone you encounter seems to be unreasonable, maybe it isn't the other people that are being unreasonable.

This isn't to say that social media is fair, or that people vote properly or that any ranking system based on agreement by readers is a good one. However, generally when you are getting negativity communicated to you and you are seeing consistently poor results around actions you take, it is going to be useful to examine the possibility that there is a difference in how you perceive what you are doing vs how others do. In that case spending time trying to figure out ways in which you are being wronged so that you can continue in the same manner is going to be time wasted.

[llm_nerd]

You seem to be assuming that everything is organic and above board on here. That it's all just user/community stimuli, and if someone flies high well clearly it's great content, from which we can infer the reverse as well.

We don't have the source for HN, nor do we have the obvious bias metadata that the moderators have put in place, but simply paying attention betrays that manipulation mechanisms exist and are heavily utilized.

For instance I clearly have a "bad guy" flag on my account, and frequently see my highly rated comments sorted below literally greyed out comments. Comments older than mine, so it isn't just the normal "well newer comments get a boost", it's just that there is a comment "DEI" in place where some people get a freebie boost and some people get a freebie detriment. It's why often mediocre content and comments by the core group is always floating high.

And let me make it very clear that I do not care. I don't harbour any delusions about some tight community or the like, and HN is not important in my life or my ego. I also know that it's basically a propaganda network for YC (I mean...it's right in the URL), and good for them. It's their site and they can do anything they want with it.

I only commented because some people really think this place is a meritocracy+democracy. That isn't how it works, even if they really want people to think that.

[Eisenstein]

No one is under the assumption that any social media space is going to be meritocratic or democratic. The assumption is that some percentage of users are manipulating it and the backend and admins are doing the same. It is an attention economy. I don't think anyone is naive about this. My comment was merely a take on the 'the video game controller is broken' excuse that everyone has when they need to cover for their ego. Sometimes the controller is broken, but it almost never is.

[imiric]

How are you getting persecution complex from what I said? If anything, your comment might be feeding that delusion. :)

My point is that HN definitely has certain weights associated with accounts, which control the karma, visibility, and ultimately discussion of certain topics.

This problem doesn't affect only negativity or downvotes, but upvotes as well. The most upvoted comments are not necessarily of the highest quality, or contribute the most to the discussion. They just happen to be the most visible, and to generally align with the feeling of the hive mind.

I know this because some of my own comments have been at the top, without being anything special, while others I think are, barely get any attention. I certainly examine my thinking whenever it strongly aligns with the hive mind, as this community does not particularly align with my values.

I also tend to seek out comments near the bottom of threads, and have dead comments enabled, precisely to counteract this flawed system. I often find quality opinions there, so I suggest everyone do the same as well.

An essential feature of a healthy and interesting discussion forum is to accomodate different viewpoints. That starts by not burying those that disagree with the majority, or boosting those that agree. AFAIK no online system has gotten this right yet.