Read the guidlines -- "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity" is the short and sweet rule. I find well written pieces about things I normally don't know much about intellectually gratifying. More so, actually, than yet another "awesome vim tricks (that any reasonably experienced user already knows)" or "look at this awesome revolutionary thing in node.js (that turns out to be a standard async pattern)".
As long as we are cherry picking text from guidelines to support our POV, here is my pick " ..If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. "
And you'll notice that the BBC and CNN reports don't have any of the background or details that would give you intellectual gratification. "Mossad killed a guy, here are all the press releases we were sent" like the BBC and CNN news certainly wouldn't belong on Hackers News, but I think this article does.
Facebook has been 'covered on TV news' also, and hell a movie has been made about it. Would you call an interesting article about Facebook something that shouldn't be on Hacker news because it was covered on TV?
"if they'd cover it on TV News, it's probably off-topic"
Keyword being probably. In any case the OP is right. This post gratifies one's intellectual curiosity (or at least mine, though it seems like most of HN thinks the same), and is a breath of fresh air in comparison to the dozens of Vim tips type of posts you find throughout the day.
Another "cherry picked" phrase from on-topic is "That includes more than just hacking and startups". Note also that I have now quoted more of the On-topic guidelines than I have left out.
As for the TV thing -- were you sure to bitch about the topicality of the iPhone release based on this guideline? What about the "stolen" iPhone? How about anything wikileaks related? All the stuff posted here about academia? Do math papers count -- they are not actually about hacking, just about maths, frequently with no direct relation to hacking.
"bitch" -- no never. I only express my disagreement.
Nobody posted "stolen" iPhone story here 6 months after the fact. The Dubai news story has been covered on TV and is very old. More cherry picked quote from the guidelines -- "Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports ...."
You are right , hacking is not just about node.js. Personally speaking, I love articles from Academia , and maths , even when they are not related to programming languages.
This article is a stale crime/politics/current affairs type of story that does not belong here.
Tomorrow, if someone posted an article with in-depth analysis of the stolen iPhone affair, including retrospectives about how this affected iPhone4 hype, how it affected sales, and how it has affected TechCrunch's reputation, would you complain? Note -- I am specifically mentioning the new content because it is directly mappable to the parent article, there is stuff in TFA that has not ever been compiled as a single source for outsiders and those with casual interest to pick up on.
As for your cherry picking -- you are obviously pretty bad at it: most does not mean all, which means this story should be investigated on the grounds of "is it like the bulk of other political and crime stories". This article is unlike well over 90% of crime and politics stories, both on the face of it an on deeper inspection. Those other stories simply report crime with vague speculation on motive, and no details on follow-up. Political stories are usually he-said/she-said pieces on the fights between personalities. This doesn't match those, and therefore doesn't qualify as "most". Good try, tho!
