I assume people believe it doesn't fall under the guidelines:
"Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon[...]. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic."
and
"Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. It tramples curiosity."
>> "Don't worry, we'll restore it or an equivalent; momentous stories like this one (or Brexit) are exceptions to the general rule against politics here.
Fair enough to have those rules, but I feel this is big enough and with far-reaching enough effects that there should be at least one thread. It has relevance to pretty much anyone in any industry. HN clearly wants to discuss it. That's why I'm here right now, and I've never even been to America.
Think you just need to make the case in how you discuss it. Make it into a discussion that people can contribute to in a way that brings out how it is a new phenomenon showing a big change, and in a way that people who frequent this site can add insight to beyond what is in the media.
Maybe so, but you need to make the case in a way that's compelling enough that it doesn't get flagged by HN people as off-topic I guess. E.g. there is an unflagged story about president and twitter currently in the new queue.
Remember when slashdot was interesting? Keep dragging divisive topics into HN and it will turn into the sh!thole that slashdot is now. I'm not just talking about politics, an article about vim vs emacs is (usually) just as worthless.
There are places to discuss politics. But I come to HN regularly because the topics are usually about things that stand or fall on their own merits and inherently promote further exploration of a topic, often linking to related resources that readers may not be aware of.
There is nothing new in politics, it's the same competing agendas recycled over and over again. I worry HN is slipping more towards that genre of tribalistic topics that achieve nothing more than virtue signaling and mud slinging.
HN is not a general news site. If you want to read about or discuss the election, there's more appropriate sites for that. I'm sure you can find them on your own.
(1) General politics is considered off-topic, so most people would just shrug and move on.
(2) I imagine there are some people who got very agitated this morning (I wonder why) and decided to show their displeasure by flagging and downvoting everything related to general US politics.
Add (1) and (2) and we have our current situation. Nothing of value is lost, IMHO.
> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. [0]
I assume people believe it doesn't fall under the guidelines:
"Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon[...]. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic."
and
"Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. It tramples curiosity."