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On HN, we go by article quality, not site quality [1]. Most major sites produce a lot of bad articles and a few good ones. Because we're trying to optimize for intellectual curiosity [2], it's important to let the good ones through while weeding out the bad ones (or at least try to). It's also increasingly the case that certain classes of article are limited to certain classes of publication—because each publication excludes what doesn't match its ideological coloring. This isn't a great development—it would be better to have more neutral sources—but that's increasingly where we find ourselves. Since intellectual curiosity is (almost by definition) not primarily an ideological emotion, it follows that we should try to stay open regardless of the coloring of the source. That doesn't mean trusting it, of course—only considering it.

One of the criteria we apply in cases like this, especially when it's a major ongoing topic like this one, is whether the article contains significant new information [3]. That's generally a better lens to look at these things through.

[1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...

[2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...

[3] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...



Woah! I didn't expect a response from dang!

I think this article is light on facts and high on sensationalism, making it a poor quality article that does more harm than good.

Re reading my comment, I see how I failed to communicate that and focused more on the source than the paper.

I will keep this in mind in the future, thank you.


Thanks for the kind reply. It doesn't always turn out that way :)


Your patience, Dang, is admirable. You might be the only force that prevents HN from going feral, Reddit-style.


That's flattering! but by far the strongest force is that most of the community wants HN to remain a site for intellectual curiosity. If that weren't true, it would be a lost cause; but because it is true, I feel empowered to make posts that represent that point of view.


I like this policy. Heck, given today's climate I love this policy.




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