Why this illusion, and how, you may ask? I can tell you why and how! It's because people are far more likely to notice the data points they dislike (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...). Not only that, but the dislikeables make a stronger impression when you do notice them. This is why people with strong feelings on a topic always feel like the site is going to the dogs—they're unintentionally blotting out the other data.
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Edit: here are more recent examples in case helpful (what can I say, it's a hobby)
I've got just as many pointing the other way, of course, but the valuable examples point opposite to the illusion. That is, if I were replying to one of these (^^^^) commenters, I'd point them to your post instead!
It's not an illusion. I've been on HN across various accounts for over a decade. There is a hard liberal-progressive tilt to comments and post flagging which has been documented and remarked upon by others on sites where such comments don't get flagged and removed. Your own bias is also quite obvious, as is that of pg, who is now known on Twitter as a block-happy liberal lolcow. But thanks for posting all that, I'm glad Bolsheviks seething at Mensheviks haven't escaped your attention.
I wouldn't call this documentation in the sense that I thought you meant the word.
These are examples of users complaining about HN in the way many users always complain about HN. You'll find countless such comments making general claims about how the site is "all X" or "has become Y" or "never allows any Z".
The problem is that these perceptions are not reliable—people base them on datapoints that they happen to notice because they dislike them so much [1], and from there they jump to general conclusions.
I'm willing to believe you mean what you say and are posting in good faith, but please read this comment and others on its link and tell me with a straight face there's no strong lib-left bias in HN's community moderation:
Why this illusion, and how, you may ask? I can tell you why and how! It's because people are far more likely to notice the data points they dislike (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...). Not only that, but the dislikeables make a stronger impression when you do notice them. This is why people with strong feelings on a topic always feel like the site is going to the dogs—they're unintentionally blotting out the other data.
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Edit: here are more recent examples in case helpful (what can I say, it's a hobby)
The HN crowd is far right - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41370117
libertarian tech bro site - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41674836
a haven for alt-right trolls and hateful abusers - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41799329
HN has also been taken over by fascists - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42059688
techno-libertarian pseudo-intellectual fascists - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42393303
HN has gone way to the authoritarian right - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42066014
tows the line when it comes to techno-fascism - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42781203
Hacker News is pretty much far right when it comes to politics - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42618465
I've got just as many pointing the other way, of course, but the valuable examples point opposite to the illusion. That is, if I were replying to one of these (^^^^) commenters, I'd point them to your post instead!
See also
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13110004 (Dec 2016)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25391526 (Dec 2020)
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...