[rtpg]

My gut feeling is that community voting is more than enough to make HN an echo chamber.

Think about it, if you see a slightly greyed-out comment, that becomes a data-point in interpreting the comment.

Though compared to other places with such strong voting mechanisms, the echo chamber seems to be less in effect. Only topic I can think about where it really comes out is articles on Uber, bizarrely.

[arrrg]

I really don’t think it’s that simple. Plenty of anarchic places are also aggressively homogenous in the views expressed there and their overall culture (e.g. 4chan and sites like that).

I think in those places aggression simply serves to push people who would think differently out.

[AnkhMorporkian]

I'm not sure if that's true. While voting does definitely encourage an echo chamber, it requires moderation so that the true majority doesn't gain a foothold. If it weren't for the moderation on this site, it would be much like reddit.

[SquareWheel]

Which means nothing, because nearly every reddit community is different.

Moderation plays a small role in the HN community. Any "community bubble" is due to shared interests and a core set of guidelines. This seems like an excuse for making a libertarian rant and nothing more.

[AnkhMorporkian]

I'm far from a libertarian. I think moderation is a good thing, I just think we need to recognize that it creates bubbles in and of itself. If you want a more concrete reddit example, /r/lgbt and /r/ainbow would provide a concrete example. Moderation provides the tone for a community unless it remains totally unmoderated.

[SquareWheel]

I don't disagree that moderation can set the tone for a community. I'm just arguing that's not the case on Hacker News. This site has a very strong focus on technology and startups. Any specific niche will create a bubble.

It's also worth keeping in mind that /r/ainbow was created as an alternative after the mess that /r/lgbt became. /r/games from /r/gaming is a similar example. As much as a change in moderation was a focus, it was also a different audience that moved over to the new subs.

[AnkhMorporkian]

I think HN is less bubbly than most enclosed communities, but it's definitely a bubble whenever it comes to feminism or social justice issues. Check out any post on those issues, check the comments, and refresh. It's intense how many comments are removed.

[maxerickson]

Turn on "showdead" in your profile. Those comments are removed by user actions (and there is a small difference from removed, they are still available to logged in users that know about that setting).