6 ms·

Agreed. While I really value HN's commitment to not becoming Reddit, the intersection of politics and tech (and their effects on our lives) is indisputable. If

by mooxie 8mo ago

Agreed. While I really value HN's commitment to not becoming Reddit, the intersection of politics and tech (and their effects on our lives) is indisputable. If we can't talk about the government's use of technology as a tool of the state without it being considered a 'hot button' topic - especially considering the relevance that politics have always had to 'hackers' - then this is really just a site for discussions about technology fluff.

giraffe_lady 8mo ago
The biggest example of this is on military stuff. You can literally post northrup grumman placed articles from military trade journals fawning over some new weapon system and that's fine, that's technology. But any comment about the applications of that technology, who it will be used on, by whom, for whose benefit, with what consequences, all of that is off limits. That's political. I fully understand that this is a legitimate preference of a lot of people. But it is revolting.
- tastyface 8mo ago
  Different caliber, but same thing happens with Grok. New Grok release? Fun, exciting, let’s all talk about it. Well-researched articles describing Grok’s alignment with far-right/white supremacist politics and clear evidence of Musk’s thumb on the scale? Nothing to see here, flag flag flag. Oh look, it’s Grokipedia! Surely this will be a font of well-sourced information! Sigh.
  - giraffe_lady 8mo ago
    Something I've been trying to work out the last couple years is how much is this a nazi site now, that we are reputation laundering by continuing to participate here in good faith. These moderation policies may not have been intended to create this outcome but they have, and they are not being changed in light of that.
- 306bobby 8mo ago
  You must also understand this is hacker news, not politics news. Sure, this may be a comfortable area for many users and one of the only forum/news sites they browse, but nonetheless it's not a politics site. I, for one, would rather not see politics on this site. If I want to partake in that discussion, I'll go elsewhere to a place more "built" for it
  - afavour 8mo ago
    But the definition of what counts as "politics" is entirely arbitrary. A thread complaining about, say, homeless people in SF will remain just fine. We'd all be better off with meaningful guidelines.
  - giraffe_lady 8mo ago
    I think my last paragraph addressed your position already?
  - insane_dreamer 8mo ago
    in some cases you can't disentangle the two
frm88 8mo ago
If we can't talk about the government's use of technology The same goes for technology's use of government, be that in the form of subsidies to tech firms or golden presents for politicians. This has to be talked about since the intersection with product lines or tech pricing etc. is converging on 100% (hyperbole, but still).

by mooxie 8mo ago

giraffe_lady 8mo ago

The biggest example of this is on military stuff. You can literally post northrup grumman placed articles from military trade journals fawning over some new weapon system and that's fine, that's technology. But any comment about the applications of that technology, who it will be used on, by whom, for whose benefit, with what consequences, all of that is off limits. That's political. I fully understand that this is a legitimate preference of a lot of people. But it is revolting.

tastyface 8mo ago
Different caliber, but same thing happens with Grok. New Grok release? Fun, exciting, let’s all talk about it. Well-researched articles describing Grok’s alignment with far-right/white supremacist politics and clear evidence of Musk’s thumb on the scale? Nothing to see here, flag flag flag. Oh look, it’s Grokipedia! Surely this will be a font of well-sourced information! Sigh.
- giraffe_lady 8mo ago
  Something I've been trying to work out the last couple years is how much is this a nazi site now, that we are reputation laundering by continuing to participate here in good faith. These moderation policies may not have been intended to create this outcome but they have, and they are not being changed in light of that.
306bobby 8mo ago
You must also understand this is hacker news, not politics news. Sure, this may be a comfortable area for many users and one of the only forum/news sites they browse, but nonetheless it's not a politics site. I, for one, would rather not see politics on this site. If I want to partake in that discussion, I'll go elsewhere to a place more "built" for it
- afavour 8mo ago
  But the definition of what counts as "politics" is entirely arbitrary. A thread complaining about, say, homeless people in SF will remain just fine. We'd all be better off with meaningful guidelines.
- giraffe_lady 8mo ago
  I think my last paragraph addressed your position already?
- insane_dreamer 8mo ago
  in some cases you can't disentangle the two

frm88 8mo ago

If we can't talk about the government's use of technology The same goes for technology's use of government, be that in the form of subsidies to tech firms or golden presents for politicians. This has to be talked about since the intersection with product lines or tech pricing etc. is converging on 100% (hyperbole, but still).