This is a slippery slope, I read it as "lets censor ourselves for this week and everybody should do their part".
Tech is like any other industry, it's rife with politics. I don't agree with trolling but obviously this place isn't reddit, lot of political debates are valuable and offer insights for those less politically inclined.
If we agree to this policy what guarantee is there in the future that other topics that HN leadership doesn't like will be censored?
This is censorship pure and simple. Shame on you Dang for even suggesting it, my question is:
Is HN an America based community that reflects the core beliefs in freedom of speech & expression?
If yes, we shouldn't even have this kind of thread. Let trolls be flagged but everyone else having meaningful discussion should not be collectively punished.
No, it's 'moderation'. Censorship is where you can't say something in any (public) outlet.
> Is HN an America based community that reflects the core beliefs in freedom of speech & expression?
No, because downvoting 'ghosts' a comment, there's shadowbanning, dead comments, and the mods can already kill stories. Moderation is already alive and kicking on HN; there's plenty of it done by both mods and users.
Also, it's only for one week. It's bizarre to see just how many commentors are treating it like the end-times of civilisation.
> Censorship is where you can't say something in any (public) outlet.
HN is a public outlet, anyone is free to register and participate in the discussion. The thread is soliciting the community to censor themselves with a pretty vague and large blanket under "politics".
HN is run by an American corporation correct, it's servers are in America, then it should follow American values. If this was a Chinese or Russian company, well, their land their rules.
People are freaking out because dang set a precedent for future discourse, the community leadership can declare any topic they deem unsuitable with a pretty vague set of rules and discretion which does not follow a democratic process.
There is certainly nothing wrong with a community having a topical focus. This is just an experiment in reorienting the focus back towards its historical orientation. I think you're over-reacting.
Tech is like any other industry, it's rife with politics. I don't agree with trolling but obviously this place isn't reddit, lot of political debates are valuable and offer insights for those less politically inclined.
If we agree to this policy what guarantee is there in the future that other topics that HN leadership doesn't like will be censored?
This is censorship pure and simple. Shame on you Dang for even suggesting it, my question is:
Is HN an America based community that reflects the core beliefs in freedom of speech & expression?
If yes, we shouldn't even have this kind of thread. Let trolls be flagged but everyone else having meaningful discussion should not be collectively punished.