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That's only true if you believe that every vote on HN is honest.
by dataengineer56 3y ago
That's only true if you believe that every vote on HN is honest.
- baq 3y agoHN moderation is super heavy handed and we like it this way. Alternatives are predictably enshittified.
- dataengineer56 3y agoModeration has no ability to affect a coordinated voting campaign.
- dgellow 3y agoHN does apply negative weight to submissions that seem to be astroturfed. Part of it is automated, part of it is manual reports or admin actions. Similar to what is done for sensitive topics.
- dgellow 3y agoI don’t think that’s necessary for the system to work. If topics the community find interest in can reach the front page, and “toxic” subjects are contained well enough, then the system works. It doesn’t really matter if upvoters are honest or not. If you can cheat in a way that makes your post reach and stay on the front page, it’s very likely that people are interested in discussing the topic. So far HN system has been working pretty good. Not for all topics of course, some result in really toxic exchanges or annoy some people. But you almost never see spam or obviously astroturfed content in the front page (at least compared to Reddit and other places).