before some invisible magic happened, the comment was the first one on the page
can HN mods give an explanation to this?
There are a small number of trusted users (not moderators or high-karma accounts, but people who have been on HN for many years) who have the ability to mark a comment generic or offtopic, which downweights it. We encourage them to do that when a generic or offtopic comment is sitting at the top of a page, choking out more interesting discussion. It's actually the single biggest thing we've found to improve thread quality, because generic and offtopic subthreads—especially angry ones, like the one you started—tend to quickly suck all the oxygen out of a conversation, and end up making the thread be about obvious-generic things rather than the intellectually interesting details of a specific article.
This is an experiment in extending moderation powers to the community at large (and I'd love to extend it further*, because the results have been superb so far). But it has nothing to do with YC—in fact we've instructed these users not to apply such downweights when YC or a YC-funded startup is the story, because the principle I mentioned above takes highest precedence. So I'd presume that the user who downweighted your subthread had no idea that Fig was a YC startup.
You posted 16 comments in this thread attacking someone's product from what is clearly a pre-existing entrenched position. That's way too much, and not at all the curious conversation that this site is supposed to be for. (Edit: we also got an unusual number of emails complaining about how you derailed the thread.) So I think the user who applied the downweight in your case was correct in principle—doing that did improve the quality of the thread (at least for a while), which is exactly what the downweight is for. They just didn't catch the YC aspect; if they had, I'm sure they would have held back.
* (Side note: if anyone sees this and wants to 'try out' for the right to downweight comments in this way, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com. Send a few examples of subthreads you think should have been downweighted and I'll take a look.)
I don't have a bone to pick here -- HN is one of the better moderated sites ive seen for good discussion.
i'd like to ask couple questions:
- why aren't regular downvotes enough to moderate the conversation?
- what is the selection process for these users, do you make sure they are unbiased?
- do any users, who currently possess said abilities have any connection to YC or companies that YC have funded?
- do you review the comments these users are downweighting to make sure the act is legitimate?
- will you punish users who disregard the downweighting rules (such as the case here)?
you also admit that this thread should have been moderated less, as it is about YC-company
if so, then why haven't you still reversed the downweights on my comments to fix the rule-breaking behaviour of your shadow mods?
In my experience, though, it isn't worth the time and energy to respond to hostile cross-examinations. I'm interested in satisfying the curiosity of good-faith users, and this feels more like an interrogation. That's no fun and does nothing for the community.
