You should be required to provide a reason when flagging something, possibly choosing from a set of common and legitimate reasons.

And if it's some Hacker News own bot doing some of the killing, that should be declared.

And a ton of other things, I like Hacker News's interface and in part its user base, but I'd change much of the rest.

> You should be required to provide a reason when flagging something, possibly choosing from a set of common and legitimate reasons.

Dang said on the AI guidelines post that they’re working on this now.

> And if it's some Hacker News own bot doing some of the killing, that should be declared.

First rule of antispam is do not publish the details of antispam decisions automatically. This post could have been replaced by an email to the mods asking what’s going on here. I’ve learned of a few possible automated systems that could be engaging in parallel while reviewing /new posts and flagging and reporting folks and sites by email to them.

Would showing exactly why posts were flagged make it easier for spammers to tune their submissions to avoid getting those flags? Would knowing that they were flagged for one thing but not another make it easier for for them to identify what it was that let them slip past undetected? I think moderation here works pretty well, and I'd hesitate to change it too much.