Meh. Site has up and down votes as well, along with flags. This is just another effort to keep the crap level down and quality up. If you've got something to say, you can say it in a way that isn't inflammatory or low value. This is a privately held gathering place, and if the price for absolute lack of censorship is comments and rhetoric that incite, inflame, go off topic, or otherwise just make this gathering place worse, then they can be shown the door. No virtue in that with respect to a private space with high value conversation as one of its premier objectives IMHO.
I think "inflammatory" is often situational, individual.
I'm not personally worried. I'm seen as an insider. As Louis CK says, "How many advantages can one person have?" [1]
But people who aren't part of the HN tribe already think they're treated unfairly here, and from what I read on Twitter, they're confident that this change will only increase the level of groupthink by making sure their comments never get even seen.
Personally, I think that comments that incite and inflame are often useful. I agree that there's plenty of pure dickishness here, and I'd love to see that go. But sometimes comments are upsetting because they contain uncomfortable truth. Sometimes we skate on by the polite statement when a passionate outburst will force to see things through someone else's eyes.
I understand your point, but for a long time the tougher nut to crack for online forums has been quality, staying on topic, and not derailing the discussion by being uncivil or hostile.
One of the nice things about HN is that users are rather blunt in their critiques. I think the gatekeepers (>1k karma) will generaly do a good job separating frankness from hostility.
At any rate, it's an interesting experiment and I'm truly curious to see how it plays out.
