Comment by ryandrake
2 days ago
Flagged articles should just list the usernames that flagged it--in a queryable way so anyone could do an analysis and see who is operating in bad faith.
2 days ago
Flagged articles should just list the usernames that flagged it--in a queryable way so anyone could do an analysis and see who is operating in bad faith.
Sorry, but I can't imagine doing that - see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46581665.
You could publish hashes of the flaggers' usernames rather than the usernames themselves. The point is not to go on witch hunts--it's to stop the endless discussions and questioning around whether what we are all seeing (certain topics always seeming to disappear quickly) is the result of flagging activity that is evenly distributed across the site or coming from a relative handful of brigaders.
Everything I know about internet dynamics and human nature tells me that that wouldn't work—it would just exacerbate the conflict.
The problems we're talking about come from the fundamentals: how HN is defined (i.e. its mandate), how the site is structured (one front page that everyone shares, only 30 stories per page, etc.), how people feel, and what's going on in the world at large. Given those fundamentals, these conflicts are inevitable. All we can do is work on how we respond to them—trying to respond better, more creatively, more relationally. By "we" I mean all of us: mods qua mods, users qua users, mods qua users, and users qua mods.
That's not going to happen to anyone's satisfaction, but if it can happen at all, that has to be good enough.
I feel like Freud telling you guys you're all doomed to frustration!
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