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Ask PG: Is the [dead] tool algorithmic or moderated or both?

21 points by iamelgringo ↗ HN
I have "show dead" turned on in my profile, and I'm amazed by the amount of spam that's shown as dead on the new page. How are those links caught?

Is it algorithmic, moderated or both?

9 comments

[ 0.18 ms ] story [ 28.3 ms ] thread
pg
Both. But at this point I have the upper hand over the spammers in the sense that most spam is killed by software.
iamelgringo
Is it a bayesian filter on the linked page?
pg
No, much less sophisticated.
icey
I have a weakness for submitting wild-ass guesses, so my guess is that after a user account has X number of submissions killed, they autokill after N number of flaggings. I would also guess that as X increases, N decreases.
aditya
heh. mouse pointer was on hand and I thought you said: "I have the upper nand over the spammers" ;-)
prakash
Adding to the above question:

1. Do you use the flag feature to decide whats "dead"?

pg
Yes, both editors and software use it.
[dead] pleasehelp
What's the false-positive rate?
[deleted]
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