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I Quit Hacker News

(mattmaroon.com)
261 points cwan | 3 comments | 23 Nov 10 17:00 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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lwhi ◴[23 Nov 10 17:16 UTC] No.1934446[source]▶
Why not quit quietly?
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davidw ◴[23 Nov 10 17:28 UTC] No.1934509[source]▶
Perhaps PG will change his mind about allowing political articles (TSA)?
replies(3): >>1934539 #>>1934555 #>>1934582 #
wyclif ◴[23 Nov 10 17:43 UTC] No.1934582[source]▶
Classifying TSA stories as "political" is just one way of looking at them, and I think it's a bit myopic. I suspect the reason we've seen a lot of TSA stories here is because they have to do with personal liberty to most folks, and this is a legit theme on a forum like HN-- there is a thematic overlap between stories like these and stories about Open Source, &c.
replies(1): >>1934631 #
1. davidw ◴[23 Nov 10 17:57 UTC] No.1934631[source]▶
"Personal liberty" is a huge, and very political topic, because it's very connected with where one's freedom stops, what the rights and responsabilities of communities are, who should exercise power, and a whole host of other very political subjects that, while they may be fascinating, are generally toxic for internet forums, and are certainly not about tech or startups.

Open source is open source. It is not gun rights/free speech/right to privacy/any number of other things that are important, but are not open source.

Also, "myopic" presumes that I am not interested in politics. Nothing could be further from the truth. However, I dearly wish to keep it out of this site.

replies(1): >>1934884 #
2. wyclif ◴[23 Nov 10 18:50 UTC] No.1934884[source]▶
Shall we then ban stories on HN about the latest vim plugin, or that cool Emacs macro someone wrote? Those are fiery political topics, you know--maybe even "religious" topics for some users. I agree that all this is hugely political, but to me that only strengthens the point I was making. You can't avoid politics on forums like HN (in the broad, generalised sense in which we are discussing it here).
replies(1): >>1935101 #
3. davidw ◴[23 Nov 10 19:57 UTC] No.1935101[source]▶
Aside from having fun debating - you honestly can't tell the difference?