Mods: Why do you delete news posts like this one? I understand you're trying to keep Hacker News tech/business/science focused, maybe, but don't you think major world events that are getting tons of interest should be allowed to float up to the front page on their own merit? If the users are interested in it, why is it being deleted?
I feel like major events like yesterday's massacre in Nice or today coup d'état merit the attention.
It's almost always users who flag these posts, and they're doing so in accordance with the HN guidelines. Most political stories are off topic.
Occasionally we turn off the flags (like we've done here) because a political story has unusual intellectual interest or historical significance, or because it's so major that there's no keeping it off HN anyhow.
I appreciate being able to get responses like this from you so easily. So different from reddit's long history of the community feeling disconnected from the admins and unable to reach them.
> don't you think major world events that are getting tons of interest should be allowed to float up to the front page on their own merit?
I don't really see why. It's unlikely any HN readers use HN as their sole news source (and if they do, it's probably because they're uninterested in other news), and there's no shortage of alternative discussion forums for regular news.
> If the users are interested in it, why is it being deleted?
I'm extremely interested in this story, but I come to HN to read about tech news. I've seen multiple forums/subreddits/etc. lose their core focus because moderators were unwilling to keep the discussion on topic, so I really appreciate that HN's mods actively work to avoid that.
Edit: For the record, I don't mind a non-tech news story popping up now and then. But I don't want to see any off-topic post be kept around simply because it gets upvoted.
Speaking purely for myself: I don't come here for the news itself (i.e. facts), I come here for the editorials (i.e. opinions/viewpoints) that regular news sources can't/won't cover.
I feel like major events like yesterday's massacre in Nice or today coup d'état merit the attention.