HACKER Q&A
📣 YeGoblynQueenne

Why did this article on pay inequality get flagged?


Hey HN, I just posted this article that reports on world-wide gender-based pay inequality according to a study by the World Bank:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39862524

I checked back after an hour and it was flagged. Why was it flaggged?

P.S If this gets flagged, I'll make another one, and another, until one of the mods notices.

This is version 10.0. Previous versions below:

v.1.0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39863377

v.2.0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39863701#39863721

v.3.0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39863868

v. 4.0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39863989

v. 5.0: https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=39864014

v. 6.0: https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=39864057

v. 7.0: https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=39864513

v. 8.0: https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=39864667

v. 9.0: https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=39865380

  👤 nkurz Accepted Answer ✓
You're a good poster, but you are hurting your cause by taking this approach. Take the advice of others and email Dan (hn@ycombinator.com) and make the case for why you think he should protect this post from flags. He'll probably be talked into it. For better or worse, that's the way the system works here.

As to why it was flagged in the first place, it's hard to say. The easy answer to reach for is to assume that people who disagree with the conclusion want to suppress discussion. I think this is sometimes true, but I'm not sure about this particular case. It could also be that people think it's inappropriate HN for some other reason.

Personally, I think our flagging rules are increasingly being a problem, and we should change so that small minorities can't prevent discussion that the majority want so have. But this isn't the case yet, so for now you are better off with direct appeals to Dan.

Good luck!