HN Explorer

Ask HN: Where can I go to see flagged posts?

2 points by unknownaccount ↗ HN
Is there any site or script that enables one to see [flagged] submissions? The fact users here can use botnets to false flag/remove any submission or post they dislike makes Hacker News positively useless for whistleblowing. I learned from experience anything even tangentially controversial or threatening to a megacorp's buisness is almost guaranteed to be false-flagged and taken down.

21 comments

[ 1.8 ms ] story [ 53.2 ms ] thread
unknownaccount
If this doesnt already exist I plan on making it. Seems easy enough to make a script that polls the new page every 1 minute, logs the posts, then re-checks them later. Would there be any interest in a public site which hosts the results? Im sure I cant be the only one interested in knowing what content is being supressed here.
fleps
I think it would make for an interesting analysis, to see the suppressed comments and posts examined in bulk.

I have my suspicions that comments with certain words and phrases in (aside from swear words) are being auto-flagged. It tends to happen very soon after submitting.

mtmail
Algorithms mark a submission [dead] immediately. If it happens (seconds or minutes) after submitting then it's users who flag the submission.
jjgreen
Set "showdead" true in your account settings (I do).
krapp
Go into your user profile and set the "showdead" option to yes. Enjoy your swim in the cesspool.
bediger4000
This seems like a good time to ask, who the heck is Evon Latrail, and why can't they take a hint?

Also, why do people try to sneak Epoch Times articles in via archive sites? They're garbage.

mtmail
People try to use archive links, link shorteners, obfuscated links, links to tweets (which then point to the target article), Google Translate links, even pastebin and github repositories to get around domain blocks.

No idea who Evon Latrail is. HN archive search has only one result from 6 months ago. A youtube video with no upvotes or comments. Not a relevant interesting person?

bediger4000
If you have showdead turned on, you see that Evon Latrail videos get posted multiple times a day, and instantly killed.
corobo
Turn showdead on in your preferences and visit your submissions page, they're all there

> This has been censored by the moderators a few times

I'm not sure this is accurate, I'm pretty sure moderated comments just show as [dead], whereas things flagged by the community show [flagged] in addition to [dead].

As for why you're being flagged, from an outsider perspective your recent posts are accusations of an unknown person with no further discussion being possible due to a lack of info.

I'm not sure there's a conspiracy theory following you around, your posts need more of a to and fro than just a to. Try optimising for discussion rather than soapbox

E: Happened to see your latest flag in real-time.. try being less pissed off about stuff too when you post.

It's a site for discussing interesting things, not really for rants about whatever just got you wound up. I understand you're charged and ready to go but from an outside angle that's kinda boring if I don't already agree with you, and if I do agree with you then again there's no discussion to be had

--

Not really too relevant other than I think you might like the read, there's an article here that looks into Hacker News moderation which includes some clarification from HN mods on how stuff works https://drewdevault.com/2017/09/13/Analyzing-HN.html

mtmail
Yes, I use showdead=on for years and see the submissions fine. And reading the contents I understand why (other) users flagged them.
unknownaccount
>E: Happened to see your latest flag in real-time.. try being less pissed off about stuff too when you post. It's a site for discussing interesting things, not really for rants about whatever just got you wound up.

The things I share are relevant to the tech community at large. None of it's about me personally, but things that could affect any webmaster. These are major abuses were talking about here committed at the behest of large powerful corporations. People arent anywhere near as pissed off enough as they should be. I feel like I'm witnessing the death of the internet in real-time. We've quickly gotten to a point where social media platforms are blatantly harming children by enabling public figures to peddle illicit drugs and where random trolls can get your entire website taken down over practically nothing but a few false-flag comments. To say whats happening is disturbing would be an understatement.

"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing."

So sorry if you find it boring, but my parents raised me to stand up for whats right even if its unpopular.

corobo
That's too exhausting for me, and at least 5(?) others as your stuff keeps getting flagged. Keep in mind you're already emotionally in the red, we're not. You can't fire someone's emotions up that fast if you're not a great writer. It just doesn't work like that.

If you know it's going to get flagged the quote doesn't make any sense, net result you are still doing nothing if your posts all get flagged before anyone sees them. You're just wasting time really.

Note that this thread we're in now, one you framed as a discussion rather than a rant, got a fair amount of response and is not flagged. Learn from the data or don't I guess.

--

For what it's worth I do wish I'd used a different word than boring, I meant no judgement on the content of your posts. When it comes to creating content for others to consume I tend to use boring to describe things that aren't actively engaging rather than subjects I'm not interested in (for example "this video we're making gets boring at the 3 minute mark, can we speed up the pace there?"). I do realise the rest of the world doesn't work that way and usually I'll be more specific, I was tired when posting and that one slipped through.

You could be talking about my favourite topic in the world but if you come at me all fired up and red faced about it I'm gonna get exhausted (bored) just as fast as if you'd come at me speaking in monotone. I should have gone with "disengaging" maybe.

version_five
I have two comments: I think there is a vanishingly small probability that anyone is using a "botnet" to flag things they don't like. If your read the guidelines and spend some time on the site, it's usually pretty obvious what will be flagged (you can look at my submission history, I've had things flagged/killed and none are a surprise).

Second comment: based on the poster's recent submission history, the flagged / dead posts would have ended up that way under any circumstances, would probably have the account banned for pursuing some weird agenda on a tech discussion site if it was brought to moderator attention, and in no way have anything to do with "botnets"

Happy to discuss (in good faith)

unknownaccount
Curious what you think my "weird agenda" is. I support free speech, privacy, security and the truth. I also take issue with major companies when they turn a blind eye to public figures using their platforms to groom and provide children access to illegal homemade drugs. I also take issue with major companies that wrongfully terminate services on the grounds of retroactive speech violations. Can you explain whats weird about any of that?
mtmail
One can have the best intentions but act just a little too, how to put it, crazy, that the larger community of an internet platforms thinks they don't want to deal with such a person. Submitting more, louder, angrier or putting other users on a spot to answer usually doesn't help.

Two hours in the whole 'Ask HN' submission received 1 upvote although 8 different users commented. So my understanding is most commenters here, and likely more, thought this discussion is not relevant and interesting enough to get more attention.

(I didn't downvote your comment, somebody else did.)

unknownaccount
No one knows how many upvotes or comments the submission would have without the censorship because the fact its [flagged] means no one can reply. The first few times I submitted posts about other aspects to this story, they did get several upvotes before being [flagged] within minutes. People do want to have a converation about this topic but the flagging/censorship mechanism, as intended, makes it impossible.
unknownaccount
Also why do [flagged] comments/submissions have to disable replys? I can understand hiding/collapsing them by default - but forbidding replies does nothing but stifle free speech and makes it so other users cannot correct misinformstion. Leaving misleading comments "hanging" like that seems wrong. It also forces users to create new submissions about the same topic just to re-open the community's ability to have a conversation about the topic. which is, even more annoying for uninterested users than keeping a topic contained in the original thread.
mtmail
The community has guidelines. Flagging usually means 'this doesn't belong here'. HN is no heaven for free speech and no user has the right to post anything they want. If somebody was posting flat-earth theories that most likely get flagged and it's not the intention to further discuss the topic or giving the person more audience. There may be other communities that fit your needs better.
unknownaccount
Still, a perfectly valid and relevant submission that the community is interested in and wishes to discuss can be suppressed by just 1 rogue individual with a botnet. That sounds like a broken system to me.