I posted a few links for the sake of discussing their content with the HN community, but they got flagged and I don't know the reason. Why does HN not allow posters to see the reason a post was flagged, or allow any discussion of whether the flag was appropriate or not?
In general, posts are flagged because someone clicked the "flag" link so HN doesn't know any more specific reason.
Telling spammers why they were blocked just makes it easier for them to change their behavior just enough to not be blocked in the future. Telling crackpots why they were blocked just causes them to post multiple responses complaining about groupthink, free speech, and conspiracies. This has led basically all user generated content sites to have a policy of never explaining their moderation decisions. Of course this occasionally goes wrong.
Which links? I looked at your submission story and I found:
(10 days ago) [flagged] [dead] NY Times Opinion Piece: “Trump? How Could We?” https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12609336 : No explanation in the thread. My guess is that the article is too political.
For example, I would love to know about details about the following:
(84 days ago) [flagged] Turkey's president says all he wants is same powers as Hitler (telegraph.co.uk)
(48 days ago) [flagged] Tesla stock up 2% on news of upcoming announcement, down 1% after announcement (google.com)
I find it irritating (and it seems you've noticed this too) that "too-political" articles get flagged. Posting articles does not imply agreement with them. Are they not worth discussing?
[+] [-] wmf|9 years ago|reply
Telling spammers why they were blocked just makes it easier for them to change their behavior just enough to not be blocked in the future. Telling crackpots why they were blocked just causes them to post multiple responses complaining about groupthink, free speech, and conspiracies. This has led basically all user generated content sites to have a policy of never explaining their moderation decisions. Of course this occasionally goes wrong.
[+] [-] gus_massa|9 years ago|reply
(10 days ago) [flagged] [dead] NY Times Opinion Piece: “Trump? How Could We?” https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12609336 : No explanation in the thread. My guess is that the article is too political.
(15 days ago) [dupe] SpaceX has released the initial results of its investigation https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12570930 : Explained in the thread, it's a (not exact) dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12567446
(31 days ago) [dupe] [dead] Voteplz: Literally the easiest way to vote https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12456664 : Explained in the thread, it's a dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12454714
(32 days ago) [dupe] No, really, the headphone jack is more useful than you think https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12448453 : Not explained in the thread, probably (not exact) a dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12453311
[+] [-] obi1kenobi|9 years ago|reply
(84 days ago) [flagged] Turkey's president says all he wants is same powers as Hitler (telegraph.co.uk)
(48 days ago) [flagged] Tesla stock up 2% on news of upcoming announcement, down 1% after announcement (google.com)
I find it irritating (and it seems you've noticed this too) that "too-political" articles get flagged. Posting articles does not imply agreement with them. Are they not worth discussing?
[+] [-] throwmeOct7|9 years ago|reply