ASK PG: Look like New User from India are Banned from Posting New Content

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5771331

by hemantv • 13 years ago

10 20 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Look like you banned users from India from posting stuff when the account is new. This is very discriminatory in nature, while you allow users from other countries to post without any such restrictions.

I created new account to post some anonymous stuff , but I was shown message "Sorry, your account is too new to submit this site"

I tried searching it on google, look like country specific banning

https://www.quora.com/Hacker-News/What-should-I-do-when-I-get-an-error-Sorry-your-account-is-too-new-to-submit-this-site

-Hemant

danmaz74• 13 years ago

Just out of curiosity, may I ask you how did you find that out (considering that you were able to post)?

hemantv5• 13 years ago

I created new account to post some anonymous stuff , but I was shown message "Sorry, your account is too new to submit this site"

I tried searching it on google, look like country specific banning

https://www.quora.com/Hacker-News/What-should-I-do-when-I-ge...

ColinWright3• 13 years ago

Why do you think it's specifically because you're from India? How do you know that message isn't also displayed to other new accounts that try to submit the same link?

Have you believed something random you read on the internet?

I can certainly believe that there are sites, submissions to which are only accepted from a user with an established account. That would account for the observation you quote. I can also believe that some of those sites might be in India, but I suspect they are not only in India, and that being in India is not the problem.

I find it very hard to believe that the site discriminates on the basis of the user's originating country of connection - can you provide evidence that it really is the user's country that's the cause?

ColinWright3• 13 years ago

I'm not associated with HN apart from being a user, but your comment has aroused my curiosity. I've seen no evidence for what you're suggesting, so I was wondering if you could provide some. What have you tried to submit, and why do you think it's specifically users from India being targeted like this?

shail• 13 years ago

I am wondering how will you ban folks coming from a country. IP based? As far as I know HN code is open source. So if that is still true, you should be able to see it in the code.

hemantv5• 13 years ago

I think its mostly IP based. yeah I can look around in code.

tptacek2• 13 years ago

HN is not open source. An older variant of some of the code used to host the site is public.

logn2• 13 years ago

Some of the spam filters and scoring mechanisms are not open sourced (from what I've heard).

Rakshith• 13 years ago

The title is is misleading, you are not certain about it yet. The message they gave you might have been true.

kohanz• 13 years ago

It even contradicts itself. With the current title, the prefix should be "Accuse PG:".

joshmlewis2• 13 years ago

Well you are new here and it is pretty common for new accounts to be restricted to counter accounts being made for spamming. It looks like you have no real proof it's because you're in India but have insisted and speculated that is the reason. I would've gone about it a little differently especially regarding the tone you're using. Even waiting a day or so would've been a good idea and taking your time to post links as well or you will get flagged as a spammer.

hemantv5• 13 years ago

I think I fairly pointed out the reason. Than I tried to verify it and I found similar evidence in Quora. Yes I think my tone is not right. ( I am not native speaker not an excuse just apology for same ).

I am sorry I was just trying to convey a problem if you find the tone not right for it.

tptacek2• 13 years ago

HN is a spam magnet. The tricks successful sites use to avoid spam are complicated. You've probably run up against one of them, and are now telling yourself a dramatic story to explain it. The reality is probably much more boring.

logn2• 13 years ago

"This is very discriminatory in nature"

I don't think pg would have any problems adding a waiting period to accounts from San Francisco IPs if they overwhelmingly were responsible for spam.

pizza• 13 years ago

Some things to take into account:

* Might be IP-based banning?

* Banned domains?

* Banned username-styles?

* Might be in the middle of a new-account surge?

manidoraisamy• 13 years ago

Looking at the comments here, no one seems to be worried about the problem reported here. Why is everyone hellbent on shooting the messenger?

ASK PG: Look like New User from India are Banned from Posting New Content

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