Ask HN: on a penal code for HN
5 comments
You spammed. You posted without relevancy and interrupted every thread you entered. And you did it for leet karma? Seriously? It's a fucking number on a fucking web site. The number doesn't fucking matter, the number on the web site doesn't fucking matter, the web site doesn't fucking matter. This is not a social experiment. It's asshattery.
The guidelines are basic: If you're not stupid, you don't get banned. I'd never heard of you before, but I looked at your comments. For a guy who's been here two years, you don't have a clue what this community likes and doesn't like, apparently.
My advice: Get a new account, one with a completely different name, and start over again. Your karma doesn't matter. From your previous posting habits, it didn't look like you were much of a karma whore anyway.
The guidelines are basic: If you're not stupid, you don't get banned. I'd never heard of you before, but I looked at your comments. For a guy who's been here two years, you don't have a clue what this community likes and doesn't like, apparently.
My advice: Get a new account, one with a completely different name, and start over again. Your karma doesn't matter. From your previous posting habits, it didn't look like you were much of a karma whore anyway.
It was in bad taste, a simple deletion of the relevant posts would have done the job. No need to burn somebody who has been contributing lots of good stuff for one silly thing.
After all, there are plenty of people that do dumber things than that (stop their car on the highway to take a picture of their odometer ticking over...). This was very mild in comparison. Annoying, sure. Apologize, never do it again. But to kill an account for that ?
There are quite a few known spammers here, they get away with it almost every day and they do on the whole a lot more damage, their accounts don't get killed either, it seems a little arbitrary.
After all, there are plenty of people that do dumber things than that (stop their car on the highway to take a picture of their odometer ticking over...). This was very mild in comparison. Annoying, sure. Apologize, never do it again. But to kill an account for that ?
There are quite a few known spammers here, they get away with it almost every day and they do on the whole a lot more damage, their accounts don't get killed either, it seems a little arbitrary.
I was never a karma whore. I just identified a specific, funny, number and made getting to it a small project on "karma engineering". It was aimed on the fun side.
At first I needed a couple down-votes. Then I felt the urge to post on a discussion (about a civil rights and the responsibilities of the press issue) and got a whole lot of karma points because of that. It was then I decided on Plan-B, which was to actively ask for down-votes.
As for the disruption, had the posts worked as expected, they would quickly sink to the bottom of the list. Can I be blamed someone up-voted them into the middle of the discussions? Specially when I asked the contrary in the very message?
At first I needed a couple down-votes. Then I felt the urge to post on a discussion (about a civil rights and the responsibilities of the press issue) and got a whole lot of karma points because of that. It was then I decided on Plan-B, which was to actively ask for down-votes.
As for the disruption, had the posts worked as expected, they would quickly sink to the bottom of the list. Can I be blamed someone up-voted them into the middle of the discussions? Specially when I asked the contrary in the very message?
"Karma engineering?" That's absurd.
I understand your logic. I just think it's incredibly stupid. It goes against the point of this site, and it's a waste of time.
I understand your logic. I just think it's incredibly stupid. It goes against the point of this site, and it's a waste of time.
I disagree. It's an exploration of the social bonds of the community on top of this site and the mechanics of it. Something can be learned. For instance, I have a couple unanswered questions:
- Why people would up-vote a post asking to be downvoted? - Why is this issue polarizing? - What are exactly the laws under the community?
I am sorry my playful attempt to manipulate an otherwise meaningless indicator offended so many people. I would have never guessed it would. I am utterly surprised at the reactions.
- Why people would up-vote a post asking to be downvoted? - Why is this issue polarizing? - What are exactly the laws under the community?
I am sorry my playful attempt to manipulate an otherwise meaningless indicator offended so many people. I would have never guessed it would. I am utterly surprised at the reactions.
> a couple of posts
You spammed about every thread you could find. Not a "couple of posts", you made over 20 of those...
On top of that, you're reposting a question that you asked earlier on your own and that got killed: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=776875
You spammed about every thread you could find. Not a "couple of posts", you made over 20 of those...
On top of that, you're reposting a question that you asked earlier on your own and that got killed: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=776875
I don't know. I have to check. I suppose half a dozen would have sufficed to get to the point I wanted. I doubt I did more than 10 and I did so on new stories I felt would not get to the first page, aiming to reduce the disruption.
And the question originally posted was not visible to anyone except those who chose to see dead stories (I can't see from this account and I bet nobody here can). It was killed without so much as an answer.
And, BTW, this is a discussion that needs to happen. What can and can't be done and how to react to misdeeds. And perhaps, more importantly, what the procedure for killing an account should be. Can it be done my a single moderator? Can it be undone by another?
And the question originally posted was not visible to anyone except those who chose to see dead stories (I can't see from this account and I bet nobody here can). It was killed without so much as an answer.
And, BTW, this is a discussion that needs to happen. What can and can't be done and how to react to misdeeds. And perhaps, more importantly, what the procedure for killing an account should be. Can it be done my a single moderator? Can it be undone by another?
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There's a thingy in the guidelines about tempting people to mod you down.
But I can't imagine that's the reason your account got killed, it would seem to trivial a reason to me.
this is the exact moment when your account got killed though:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=758334
So probably you're right that that did it.
It seems a little over the top, imho.
But I can't imagine that's the reason your account got killed, it would seem to trivial a reason to me.
this is the exact moment when your account got killed though:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=758334
So probably you're right that that did it.
It seems a little over the top, imho.
It could only be that. I can't remember the last time I trolled, even on Slashdot, where people do it for sport ;-)
Cool. Contragulations!
I feel the original rbanffy account was flagged in the wake of my (half-joking) attempt to get my karma to a specific value (1337) long enough to get me a nice screenshot. The reason seems a couple of posts I made politely asking to be voted down. This created an unexpected reaction (I agree - it was vanity, but who wouldn't want 1337 karma on Hacker News, after all?).
Unfortunately, a side effect of my account being flagged is that nobody on HN can even be contacted in order to produce a meaningful answer to "what did I do wrong?"
I understand HN belongs to the people who created it, but I think clearer rules about what can be done along with clearer punishment guidelines could serve the community that thrives on it well and prevent both future transgressions (I guess mine was one) and the subsequent punishment (which I feel was a bit on the harsh side).