I am glad to hear. My perception is based on entire posts (not just comments) that were flagged due to extreme polarization of views. I can't find the thread but most comments that were anti-China were downvoted/flagged in that thread. I just have a general feeling, but I am glad to see your concerned voiced.
It’s possibly just perception, but a week or so ago there seemed to be a mass of China versus US bickering and trolling, then the threads were all deleted. It was really grim. Dang seemed to be moderating it then presumably had to resort to killing the lot.
Whoever they are, they do a great job.
It is hard for me to imagine being in Dang’s shoes. Probably daily trying to walk the line. Making tough decisions on when to put an and to inflammatory, unproductive, even abusive threads. All that, while striving to administer as ‘light’ a touch as possible, and foster a healthy, and conducive community.
It must be so stressful. I think it might drive me crazy. Doing thas job will never be perfect, but let’s all give a big ‘Thank you’ to dang (and any other admins?) who put in non-trivial work, to keep this place running smoothly!
I think it is probably a perception thing or may be not. Here is my opinion.
Dang is doing his job and it is tough. He is keeping this place sound and clean. Dang - nothing against you but I see some double standards for e.g. criticizing CCP has far more weight than criticizing western governments. No one gets offended for criticizing the UK Govt or the German Govt or the even the Indian Govt - but when it comes to criticizing the Chinese Govt... we can't do that, it is a flame war. If people get offended, so be it. If someone from China or of Chinese ethnicity is reading this criticism and doesn't like it...well, tough luck. The onus is on the person getting offended, not the offender.
This double standard needs to end (or as I see it through my own lens). Infact, we should be criticizing the CCP even more so than democratic governments.
You guys need to let me know that you have questions like this, assuming you want an answer. I don't have a mind reader (or even a software alert).
People get moderated here for posting flamebait about western countries and governments all the time. I'd be careful about that feeling that there's a double standard. It's a natural artifact of the well-known cognitive biases that affect these perceptions. You (i.e. everybody) are far more likely to notice, and to weight more strongly, the cases of moderation that you dislike or disagree with. That gives you a generalized image of what goes on here. But that image is just an inverse reflection of your own views. It's not based on the data as a whole. People with opposite views have the opposite image. To take the current topic, for example, they say that HN has an extremely anti-China bias, any comments that try to defend China or Chinese people instantly get downvoted, the mods are in on the racism, and so on. They have the opposite image to yours, but they have it for the same reason you do: they feel very strongly about the issue, and so when they run across instances in the data stream that touch (i.e. hurt) those feelings, it makes a strong impression. Those strong impressions accrue into an image of bias. But the data stream has more than enough data points to make every such impression. That's simply what you get at scale.
