edit: to add more content, we may be witnessing history here. I think it would be a huge mistake for us to stick our heads in the sand in a misguided effort to avoid politicized discussions.
Is there a way to find the old thread? I value the discussion this community has to offer.
ETA: Thank you both
(Not sure why it's already down to 2nd page despite 408 points in 1 hour!)
If 500-point stories on hot topics were dispositive, HN would be a 500-point-stories-on-hot-topics site. It isn't that kind of site, and intervention is required to keep it from going that way.
This is a clear case of 'if they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic', so it's worth dwelling on. It doesn't mean the story is unimportant (on the contrary), but that it doesn't fit the mandate of the site. Sometimes there are exceptions, and this isn't one.
I know the guidelines object to Most stories about politics ... unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon, but that is enforced very unevenly. The top story, last I looked, was about politics, as are many others.
I know moderating is thankless, so many thanks. :)
P.S. IMHO it would be useful to answer on the guidelines page or FAQ. Answers in a thread probably won't be seen by most readers; for all I know, you've already answered several times.
EDIT: For those interested, here is some recent discussion of it by dang, but not really addressing this question directly.
