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0 pointsryanSrich10y ago0 comments

> Hacker News does function similar to PH tho but [unlike PH] its both open and obvious. [i.e. Everyone knows who the list of YC companies are]

Exactly. YC doesn't even attempt to hide their favoritism of their own companies on HN (an obvious example is only letting YC companies post job ads). My comment was more about understanding that favoritism and rigged systems are real, not that they are right or wrong.

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dang10y ago

HN does favor YC startups by letting them post job ads, and YC alums by coloring their usernames. It's important to realize, though, that those two things are all the special treatment YC companies get on HN.

Some other things people sometimes think we do, like promote or penalize stories because they're YC-related, we consciously err on the side of not doing. That's the #1 rule of HN moderation and was literally the first thing pg taught me about it.

fweespeech10y ago

YC is transparent.

ProductHunt is not.

Transparency in the favoritism allows one to operate with full knowledge of which parties benefit.

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