That's kind of stupid - politics affect our lives whether we like it or not. Especially these kinds of events where Russia might collapse from within.

Yes but it’s part of how this site has avoided being sucked into the culture war vortex.

Even though these events were provoked by the war, they are important even without that connection. Possibility of civil war / regime change in Russa will inevitably hit everyone in the world. Some will get hit more, some less. Some only economically.

Nothing to do with a culture war vortex. Burying your head in sand is not necessarily the smartest option although I understand that it is the easiest one.

It’s absolutely hasn’t avoided that though. There are stories about culture war topics almost daily and multiple on the weekends.

If it wasn’t pushed back against it would take over the entire site and every thread would devolve into a rehashed flame war about Trump or gender issues or something. Then everyone else would leave.

?

There's a difference between not wanting to interact with this news, and not wanting to interact with this news on this forum.

So just don't interact?

You can simply not click that link. I don't think that I've hidden/misrepresented or clickbaited the title to force you to click... You may not want to interact, others may.

*not my politics

Why "not my politics" == flag?

A potential coup in one of the world's most populous countries, who are also in the midst of the largest war in Europe since WW2, is not just "politics". That's ridiculous.

A major portion of Russia's de facto military, led by one of the country's most prominent figures, has left Ukraine and is heading for Moscow. This is history happening right in front of us. If HN was around in 1989, would the fall of the Berlin Wall have been [flagged] too?

Whatever else ... who has the nukes?

You are making a rational argument against an irrational and faceless adversary who wrote and continues to defend the guidelines which proscribe political discussion as being contemptuous.

It's simply not the proper venue because the policy admits so much distain and misunderstanding of politics that it can't effectively carve out a proper space for such discussion.

And further, the policy admits it cannot trust either participants or the voting system in place to manage such conversations. As soon as one person with power to flag, that's it.

These conversations inevitably make HN management nervous. Since they can't cope with it, no one else is allowed to.

This war is highly relevant even to a fictional Silicon Valley Tech Elite, as it causes unprecedented inflation, stock market rollercoasters, tech platforms and companies getting banned, counter banned etc.

Many are cyclops and believe that what they can't see can't harm them.

Yes it would. Because it would "be political" and gasp don't talk about politics!

Dong will tell you that this subject attracts flamewars, but then again I think he's just parroting what someone else told him and has really examined how people in HN actually discuss the subject.

There is a lot of politics on HN. It is one of the most common topics.

It will suddenly become their business if that Prigozhin thug seizes nuclear weapons.