[simoncion]

I wish that HN was more like Metafilter in its ability to section off condolences and well-wishes threads from speculation threads.

Unfortunately, the method by which posts get to and stay on the front page ensure that HN will never be able to perform this sort of segmentation.

[sdoering]

Well that leaves it in the hands of caring individuals, intelligent sentient beings, to refrain from speculation here.

No need to call for a tech-solution, when the solution is simply to be found in human decency and kindness.

Having gone through a quite similar loss myself recently, I view things maybe slightly different and would not have liked reading/hearing speculation about fathers death while mourning his loss and having to deal with the shock of his last farewell.

[simoncion]

Your opening sentence implies that anyone who desires to engage in speculation is not a caring individual. Perhaps this is not what you intended.

I, too have lost enemies, acquaintances, friends, and family. My position regarding public speculation as to any aspect of each one's demise was the same then as it is now.

Metafilter's solution to the desire of some to engage in speculation and of others to not intermingle that speculation with well-wishes and sympathy is first and foremost a social one. Moderators and community participants steer misdirected conversation to the appropriate thread.

It is true that Mefi's software[0] makes this guidance far easier to achieve than HN's software [1]. Frankly, I'm quietly calling for a technical change that will allow the HN community to enact a large cultural change.

The technical change alone is woefully insufficient. Without a corresponding cultural change, speculation and well-wishes will remain intermixed.

[0] Anything posted by a member appears on the front page. The latest X posts are displayed on the front page. Posts fall off of the front page as new ones come in.

[1] Member posts must receive a certain -unknown- number of upvotes to appear on the front page. Posts that appear on the front page require a constant stream of additional votes in order to stay on the front page.