That's the sort of bold statement that would require extraordinary familiarity with HN over a long duration, and probably internal data access.
/me checks poster's handle.
Oh, hi @dang, yep, that has merits.
I'll add for those reading this: if you do see suspicious activity, EMAIL THE MODS. hn@ycombinator.com
I'll report one-note-flutes (consistently posting/commenting on a single topic or site), egregious misbehaviour (I mostly just flag, and yes, consistent flags will kill accounts), highly obvious spam that passes the filters (this ... happens quite rarely, I don't recall any instances in the past year or two), and a lot of suggestions for improved links or titles. Occasional disgreements on moderator calls, though that seems to be running about 1-2x per year.
Reading dang's comments is a good way to get a sense of what is / isn't permitted, and what does or doesn't get caught. Mods are human and can't read everything (posts, let alone comments), so the flagging and emails help.
I've been told to add the post ID to emails and typically do along with the title, e.g, "32228983" for this particular post. That apparently helps with the mod tools.
I also try to keep mod emails short and to the point:
subject: <issue>: <post title> <post id>
body:
post url
submission url
brief description of issue --- rarely more than a line or so.
suggested remedy or question (e.g., is this acceptable behaviour)
Providing a suggested fix (e.g., better title or disintermediated URL) helps make mods' work easier so far as I can tell. The suggestions aren't always taken, but the decision made is informed by them. My batting average is pretty good.
/me checks poster's handle.
Oh, hi @dang, yep, that has merits.
I'll add for those reading this: if you do see suspicious activity, EMAIL THE MODS. hn@ycombinator.com
I'll report one-note-flutes (consistently posting/commenting on a single topic or site), egregious misbehaviour (I mostly just flag, and yes, consistent flags will kill accounts), highly obvious spam that passes the filters (this ... happens quite rarely, I don't recall any instances in the past year or two), and a lot of suggestions for improved links or titles. Occasional disgreements on moderator calls, though that seems to be running about 1-2x per year.
Reading dang's comments is a good way to get a sense of what is / isn't permitted, and what does or doesn't get caught. Mods are human and can't read everything (posts, let alone comments), so the flagging and emails help.
I've been told to add the post ID to emails and typically do along with the title, e.g, "32228983" for this particular post. That apparently helps with the mod tools.
I also try to keep mod emails short and to the point:
Providing a suggested fix (e.g., better title or disintermediated URL) helps make mods' work easier so far as I can tell. The suggestions aren't always taken, but the decision made is informed by them. My batting average is pretty good.