I considered whether it would be inflammatory, but figured it was different than an article, where the interaction takes the form of discussion thus potentially leading to flame wars if the issue is controversial. Here, the interaction is mainly about voting, and people will feel less of a need to make their voice heard through comments.
So being curious, I decided to take the risk.
So far seems ok. If not, just flag it, and some mod will kill the thing.
It's not like we haven't done it before. We usually chat for a while, people complain, and then either it is zapped or we move on.
It's interesting to me to see how the influx of newbies will deal with the topic. It's a sociological/social networking question, which makes it interesting for hackers. Will the new group play by the older group's rules? Will the newcomers complain more about it "not being HN" than the old farts? Will the newbies pull the oldies out into discussion, or the other way around? Will folks who post regular science-vs-church articles participate here or pass?
But I can certainly agree that it can get out of control. What can I say? I like danger in small doses. This afternoon is kinda slow anyway.
So being curious, I decided to take the risk.
So far seems ok. If not, just flag it, and some mod will kill the thing.