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Ask HN: Is doxing allowed?

3 points by QuantumChaos ↗ HN
In this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8418885 sama posts some personal information about an alleged troll. This information wasn't enough identify that person, but it suggests that sama is sending a signal that mods will use this tactic against people they consider trolls.

In the same thread, another user (not a mod) states that 'there is no "doxing" rule on HN'.

Will mods continue to reveal private information that only they know? Under what circumstances will they do this? Similarly, what rules will they impose on discussions. Will they ban users who dox other users?

For reference, the comment that instigated these actions was

>Can we have a publication named "The Forgotten Male Programmers Who Created Modern Tech" now?

which was a top level comment in the story The Forgotten Female Programmers Who Created Modern Tech (npr.org)

10 comments

[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 29.5 ms ] thread
zaroth
To which 'sama' replied; 'this is from a newly-created troll account from a dorm in the netherlands. please go back to 4chan.'

I think the first question is, would you even call this doxing? It clearly touched a nerve or crossed a line, I assume we won't see any more of it.

I'm content to wait and see, assuming there's no actual injury in this case. Doxing is serious. Perhaps even worse considering the context? I don't read into it that much.

QuantumChaos
I never implied that sama's actions were doxing. I would however, like to a clear statement from mods regarding actual doxing, whether by them or other users.
dang
Do we really need a rule for everything? How about just being decent and treating others the way you would want to be treated?
krapp
When Hacker News gets rid of shadowbanning, and maybe the nitpicky editing of submission titles, and the numerous other features designed to annoy users for the sake of qualitative social engineering, then maybe we can talk about everyone just being nice and polite and treating one another like adults.

Until then, knowing whether or not a moderator exposing user information (regardless of what it is) to indimidate them is considered fair game by the staff would, at the very least, be nice, rule or no rule.

SamReidHughes
You literally have the word "greentext" in your user profile.

Go back to 4chan.

krapp
No.

But thanks for reminding me to update that link in my profile. You should try the greentexting userscript I wrote - I think you'd be surprised at how many HN users actually use > to prefix their quotes. It improves readability quite a bit.

QuantumChaos
I don't see how this rule helps me figure out the meaning of sama's actions. At least five people (including myself) in that thread interpreted his actions as indicating that mods would use tactics like this (presumably escalating) against people they perceived as trolls. However, I would be happy to hear that this was not the case, and this action was a random occurrence.

Without any clarification, I think that this sort of thing has a chilling effect on discussion. People will self-censor for fear of being subject to harassment, either by mods or other users.

SamReidHughes
Why would it be a bad thing if mods used escalating tactics against these things you call trolls? Nobody that isn't subject to paranoid delusions is going to self-censor because they're afraid "sama" will harass them. So far he hasn't harassed anybody, so why are you proposing that mods might do so? Last I checked, a guy that called out "sama"'s bullshit in his blog still posts here and isn't being harassed or silenced by mods. That's because there's a difference between posting endless shitty vacuity under alt accounts and writing with the intention of benefiting the reader. And there's a huge difference between having a chilling effect on discussion, which is what moderation is supposed to do, and harassment, which I don't think you know what that is. If anything, it's what these so-called trolls do to HN. I have no idea how anybody that isn't a p-zombie can possibly look at the folks that run this site and think that these people might be out to get them. I don't think they're interested in making this site any sort of Casablancian dystopia. You can tell this is the case because that's what they say. (Note that they didn't literally actually say this. Just like how they aren't literally actually saying they're not going to reveal all the alternate account havers yet somehow I know this.)
dang
Yes, it was a random occurrence.
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