Tell HN: HN is becoming too political
12 redm 12 7/9/2025, 7:44:41 PM
HN has always stood out for its focus on tech, but lately, almost every thread drifts into politics. This community should be a respite from the political maelstrom found everywhere else.
Of course, one can always ignore threads or topics that are not interesting (i.e. politically charged topics are easy to spot and avoid).
ps. For me, this site's lowest point was when moderators insisted on keeping a thread about a technically complex attack, one that killed children and civilians, strictly "technical." I got strong "Into the Darkness[^1]" vibes.
[^1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/562714.Into_That_Darknes... - Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience.
Let's be real here. "Politics shape every aspect of our lives" is code for "I want to discuss US partisan politics all the time because I'm very anxious about it."
I don't come to HN to offer therapy.
[1] https://www.paulgraham.com/prop62.html
This is not to say you cannot continue to find gems of interesting tech related posts, but I find them to be few and far between. I find the Ask and Show HN posts to be my favorites.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44484996
[2] Ask HN: Does anybody use the HN hide button? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34305451 - Jan 2023
(i am mindful that HN is the result of people who won the capital investment lottery creating a space to encourage intellectual curiosity, and i do my best as a participant to respect that [3]; there is no Dan or Tom equivalent elsewhere, they are the value here [among other mods not overtly public])
[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43729126