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“How America took out the Nord Stream pipeline”

(seymourhersh.substack.com)
688 points hunglee2 | 2 comments | 08 Feb 23 12:50 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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keithwhor ◴[08 Feb 23 19:10 UTC] No.34713153[source]▶
An unsubstantiated story that’s presented as if it’s fact doesn’t really belong on Hacker News. The fact the submission has to be edited to include a question mark when the source material does not is an implicit admission of such by the moderation team. Why it hasn’t been removed I have no idea.
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dang ◴[08 Feb 23 19:46 UTC] No.34713787[source]▶
It's no such admission. In fact it's the opposite, because if we thought the story didn't belong on HN, nothing would be easier than to let it sink without a trace.

I think the story belongs on HN because I know a little bit about the historical significance of Seymour Hersh and I think the appearance of this story is intellectually interesting. Maybe I'm the only commenter who feels that way, since most appear only to want to score points for their pre-existing political side, but it's our job to serve the intellectual interest of the larger audience, most of whom don't comment.

Re the question mark in titles, see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34713747. This is a longstanding practice and has nothing to do with the topic.

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1. Ancalagon ◴[08 Feb 23 20:22 UTC] No.34714387[source]▶
Dang, the question mark is not significant enough in my mind to present this story in a proper light. I think you should preface the title with "Theory:", "Hypothesis:", or some other disclaimer to immediately signify to the readers that it does not have substantial evidence to back up its extraordinary claims.

I respect and appreciate your opinions on all things HN related, but in this instance I think we need to make readers more urgently aware.

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2. dang ◴[08 Feb 23 21:04 UTC] No.34715119[source]▶
I've put quotation marks up there now, as an alternative way of making the same point. That won't satisfy everyone but I hope the intention is clear!