There's a recent pattern where stories related to the NSA are being given reduced visibility, either the result of flagging by users, a change to the algorithm (which seems unlikely), or otherwise.
A few examples:
- A Guardian post today [1] about the NSA sharing unfiltered intelligence data with Israel languished on the second/third page for hours (despite 50 upvotes in three hours). It then jumped up to the first page after the flagging was removed.
- Another Guardian post today [2] containing a "memorandum of understanding" between NSA and Israeli intelligence forces is on the fourth page despite 6 upvotes in 2 hours.
- A post yesterday [3] I made about DNI releasing hundreds of pages of FISA court decisions as a result of an EFF received 17 upvotes but never made it to the front page (despite lesser-upvoted posts making it on)
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6367465
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6368388
[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6364053
The NSA stories haven't gone away, and leaks from Snowden seem likely continue for the next few months. I've personally taken a break from entrepreneurship to be involved in anti-surveillance activism as a result of the leaks, but it seems based on comments on previous posts, a significant number of users want fewer NSA stories.
I'm curious as to whether it is a vocal minority who are flagging NSA stories and pushing them off the homepage, or whether the Hacker News community at large wants fewer NSA stories to rank.
A few examples:
- A Guardian post today [1] about the NSA sharing unfiltered intelligence data with Israel languished on the second/third page for hours (despite 50 upvotes in three hours). It then jumped up to the first page after the flagging was removed.
- Another Guardian post today [2] containing a "memorandum of understanding" between NSA and Israeli intelligence forces is on the fourth page despite 6 upvotes in 2 hours.
- A post yesterday [3] I made about DNI releasing hundreds of pages of FISA court decisions as a result of an EFF received 17 upvotes but never made it to the front page (despite lesser-upvoted posts making it on)
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6367465 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6368388 [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6364053
The NSA stories haven't gone away, and leaks from Snowden seem likely continue for the next few months. I've personally taken a break from entrepreneurship to be involved in anti-surveillance activism as a result of the leaks, but it seems based on comments on previous posts, a significant number of users want fewer NSA stories.
I'm curious as to whether it is a vocal minority who are flagging NSA stories and pushing them off the homepage, or whether the Hacker News community at large wants fewer NSA stories to rank.