Thanks!

Sure, I'll just ask directly:

Q: Do you know of any experiments of psychological or sociological nature ran on the HN platform or its participants?

Q: If you knew that such experiments take place, would you be able to confirm it publicly?

This is quite the curveball, but, sure: this would never happen. The primary guiding principle of HN moderation is that community trust and goodwill is the most precious thing we have, and any action that diminishes it would destroy HN and everything we've worked for. The community scrutinizes everything we do. I can't fathom any such experiment that would be remotely beneficial to HN/YC that would be worth diminishing community trust for. Can you?

Edit: why this question, by the way?

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

There has been some strange submissions and comments lately. Discussions feel out of place.

The expression "intellectual curiosity" grabbed my attention. Whatever is happening is definitely curious from an intellectual point of view, but it feels weird.

The world feels weird to me lately, but nothing you’re seeing is due to any secret experiments or any change in moderation policy.

We’re (always) trying to get better at finding and penalizing bad comments – but not everyone agrees on what constitutes a “bad” comment.

Everyone is welcome to email us at hn@ycombinator.com if they see any story or comment that seems off, and we’re happy to investigate or explain anything.