←back to thread

Two HN Announcements

(blog.ycombinator.com)
698 points tilt | 2 comments | 29 Sep 15 18:40 UTC | HN request time: 0.418s | source
Show context
raldi ◴[29 Sep 15 18:49 UTC] No.10298588[source]▶
> If we notice abusive vouches, we'll take away vouching rights

That might scare some people away from vouching. Could you clarify whether it'll be more like, "If you wrongly vouch for even one single thing, we'll silently and permanently remove your vouching ability forever with no possible recourse" or more like, "If you show a repeated pattern of bad vouching, we'll reach out to you and explain what you're doing wrong, and only if it continues, take away your vouching privileges as a last resort, perhaps only temporarily" (or somewhere in between those extremes)?

P.S. I couldn't be happier to hear about Dan's promotion. He has an expert touch for community management, and (I learned after an opportunity to join him for beers one night) some deep wisdom on the subject, too.

replies(3): >>10298625 #>>10298648 #>>10298968 #
dang ◴[29 Sep 15 18:57 UTC] No.10298648[source]▶
Please don't worry about this. It really is just like flagging. We only take away flagging rights if someone repeatedly misuses them—never for one random thing.

I wouldn't have even included the bit about taking away vouching rights except I know that the question "What if people just vouch for all the bad comments" was going to come up otherwise.

(Also, I don't think I've been promoted? But thanks—that's particularly meaningful coming from a seasoned veteran of the early Reddit...)

replies(6): >>10298687 #>>10298761 #>>10298834 #>>10299345 #>>10300168 #>>10304498 #
raldi ◴[29 Sep 15 19:04 UTC] No.10298687[source]▶
> I don't think I've been promoted

Editorial independence is a big vote of confidence; they don't toss that set of keys to just any old schmuck.

replies(2): >>10298947 #>>10299384 #
1. larrys ◴[29 Sep 15 20:28 UTC] No.10299384[source]▶
Well if there is editorial independence, will we still see posts for when YC companies are looking to hire people, where you can't leave a comment, I am guessing for fear of creating noise that is not helpful to the hiring process?

And will YC companies still get what appears to be preferential placement ("appears to be") for stories? [1] Some "more equal" than others?

If this is true independence then those benefits would be extended and/or eliminated.

[1] Or do stories about YC companies simple get more upvotes because of the balance in the community here toward people working at YC companies?

replies(1): >>10299432 #
2. dang ◴[29 Sep 15 20:35 UTC] No.10299432[source]▶
You shouldn't see anything change, because we haven't been subject to editorial pressure in the first place. The job ads will still be a thing but in my mind they're off to the side. We're not going to open them to comments because HN comments are for discussing intellectually interesting stories, which job ads aren't—they're job ads.

If you want to make claims about preferential placement (and yes I realize you're just saying "appears", but still, people are quick to believe these things), I'd appreciate concrete links so we can look into them. We try hard to be even-handed and when there are marginal calls, err on the side of not playing favorites.

YC founders and current/former employees are a large and valued part of this community, stories about YC startups often are interesting (by HN's definition), and lots of HN users like to follow them in particular, so of course you'll still see plenty of YC-related stories on the front page. It would be weird not to. Of course those stories are subject to upvoting and flagging as much as the others are.