[reductum]

I witnessed a recent front page link silently get changed to point to a parody video, then silently changed back later, with the top comment that remarked on the change silently removed.

That told me all I needed to know about the moderation of this site.

Thankfully someone captured a screenshot: https://merveilles.town/@cancel/111834048502040552

[dang]

> That told me all I needed to know about the moderation of this site.

In that case you drew a general conclusion from a freak accident so rare that I doubt it had happened in the 17 years this site has been around. (Edit: 17 years this month in fact! https://web.archive.org/web/20070221033032/http://news.ycomb...)

If what you require from an internet forum is that the moderators under no circumstances will ever commit a copy/paste error, HN is definitely below your standards.

Edit: the mods would like to share that they weren't drunk when they made that mistake, just rushed and watching a rather gripping tennis final.

[wtallis]

> 17 years this month in fact! https://web.archive.org/web/20070221033032/http://news.ycomb...)

That prompted me to check other dates in the archive: apparently the "Startup News" title lasted for around six months before changing to "Hacker News". I was pretty sure the change was before I made my account, but I didn't realize the "Startup News" period had been so short.

[mkl]

Dang explained it was a mod error: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39182625, which links to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39170137

huppeldepup's comment in the screenshot is collapsed on p2 of the comments (after it was no longer relevant) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39157010&p=2, and is also accessible as the parent of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39170137.

[paulcole]

What did you think he was going to say? Explain that it was in fact a big HN conspiracy?

I mean yeah it probably was just a mistake but what do you expect somebody to say?