Ask HN: Why do DOGE stories never make it to the frontpage?

This morning I saw a news story that seemed pretty important for tech workers to be aware of [1]. I went to submit, and I was taken to a page where the post was already marked as "flagged" despite having 400+ upvotes in the 4 hours since original submission. However, the post had been flagged, so I was unable to see it on the front page. Who makes the decisions about what is getting flagged, and why does it seem that none of the really important DOGE news is allowed to surface?

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43691142#43692607

1. ◴[15 Apr 25 15:55 UTC] No.43694662[source]▶

>>43694649 (OP) #

2. pvg ◴[15 Apr 25 16:00 UTC] No.43694754[source]▶

>>43694649 (OP) #

Who makes the decisions about what is getting flagged

Users flag things.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43227619

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43624035

a news story that seemed pretty important for tech workers to be aware of

That's not really a driving principle of HN - it doesn't actually work like that. It doesn't entirely not-work like that but it mostly doesn't work like that.

3. Ukv ◴[15 Apr 25 16:12 UTC] No.43694945[source]▶

>>43694649 (OP) #

I don't think "DOGE stories never make it to the frontpage" or "none of the really important DOGE news is allowed to surface" are accurate statements. DOGE has been heavily discussed here, and stories have received a lot of attention, e.g:

    The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE
    1683 points | 2990 comments | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42910910

    Teen on Musk's DOGE team graduated from 'The Com'
    1624 points | 1801 comments | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42981756

    Anyone can push updates to the doge.gov website
    1125 points | 1124 comments | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43045835

    DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes
    1092 points | 1462 comments | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43138238

    DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data
    884 points | 1670 comments | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43112084

Flags are just from users. Controversial/polarized topics tend to be more prone to getting flagged, from what I've seen.

4. PaulHoule ◴[15 Apr 25 16:14 UTC] No.43694975[source]▶

>>43694649 (OP) #

As someone who's got a quick finger on the "flag" button I am inclined to flag anything that involves Elon Musk whether is someone who thinks he is a hero or thinks he is a villian.

There are topics that go viral because of emotionally negative content and I feel like I have to be very careful who I follow on Mastodon and Bluesky so that my feed is not dominated by outrage. I appreciate that HN isn't like that and I want to keep it that way. There are enough places you can participate in breathless discussions about the outrage of the day.

Also there are fellow HNers whose comments I really enjoy, who seem thoughtful and intelligent and who I have a great time interacting with who seem to turn into werewolves [1] when certain topics come up and keeping those topics away helps me experience their best.

[1] circa Spring 2025 I'm starting to wonder if is fair to werewolves to talk like this though

replies(2): >>43695027 #>>43695416 #

5. jryan49 ◴[15 Apr 25 16:30 UTC] No.43695189[source]▶

>>43694649 (OP) #

I see DOGE on the front page like every other day, not sure what you mean...

6. jerf ◴[15 Apr 25 16:48 UTC] No.43695416[source]▶

>>43694975 #

I tend to flag things that Hacker News simply has no unusual insight into. Or, if you prefer, one in which I can essentially write the entire comment thread in my head in advance, arguments and all. That doesn't have to be "just programming", but this sort of political news fits into that category plainly. HN has expressed its opinion, the gestalt is so vigorous, if not outright vicious, about its opinion that dissent is effectively impossible, so there is basically no information content in it.

If you're upset that Hacker News is getting these flagged, well, you've got a thousand other sites to go to to be outraged about politics, where the conversation will be indistinguishable from the ones here. The things that Hacker News does other than being outraged about politics I do not have a lot of other places to go to get.

So, yeah, I'm flagging them and will continue to do so. No one is getting any value from the discussions on HN. Some people just feel they are, but they can get those feelings from any number of other places.

replies(1): >>43695954 #

7. fzeroracer ◴[15 Apr 25 17:30 UTC] No.43695954{3}[source]▶

>>43695416 #

I can understand this standpoint, but it's also a bit hypocritical (on a site-wide basis, not specifically you).

HN has been a place where the people currently running the government got praise. Elon Musk had huge thousand post threads every time he did something marginally interesting. Now that he's running roughshod over the government, any negative actions he takes are suddenly political and do not deserve to be here.

A lot of the current admin is a beast of Tech's creation. The time to stop this problem from coming to roost was years ago.

replies(1): >>43705595 #

8. numpad0 ◴[15 Apr 25 17:44 UTC] No.43696117[source]▶

>>43694649 (OP) #

Been that way for a while. It can't be organic, but not triggering enough for whichever right set of people to take on it.

replies(1): >>43696714 #

9. ecesena ◴[15 Apr 25 18:28 UTC] No.43696673[source]▶

>>43694649 (OP) #

In your HN profile, you can turn on "showdead". As others mentioned, flagging is community driven. But you can still see the stories for a little longer, even if dead.

replies(1): >>43697145 #

10. ◴[15 Apr 25 18:31 UTC] No.43696714[source]▶

>>43696117 #

11. lostdog ◴[15 Apr 25 20:38 UTC] No.43698088[source]▶

>>43694649 (OP) #

I come here to read interesting technology news, and most of the Doge stories are not interesting technology news. It would suck if HN were full of boring stuff that I can read elsewhere.

I do care a lot about the current situation, and I keep up to date by reading all the other sources that cover politics and the economy. I flag most politics articles because they lower the quality of HN.

If something is either very novel or very interesting it should definitely make it to the front page. But most stuff that gets flagged is getting the right treatment.

However, the one you posted does look kind of interesting. It probably got flagged by people who are even more sick of politics polluting HN and are flagging reflexively.

12. jerf ◴[16 Apr 25 13:55 UTC] No.43705595{4}[source]▶

>>43695954 #

Heh, I also think rather a lot of what is happening right now is the direct result of what I've frequently called "Silicon Valley Liberalism" coming home to roost, and the rage is basically the rage that their actions and beliefs had consequences other than what they desire, and the universe should conform itself to what consequences were "supposed" to transpire rather than what did. However, things do not work that way. I'm not about to try to inject that concept into the rage threads, though.