> Posting a comment not aligned with the majority opinion carries a risk of at most -4 points. I assert that downvotes more often correlate with disagreement th

> Posting a comment not aligned with the majority opinion carries a risk of at most -4 points. I assert that downvotes more often correlate with disagreement than failure to abide by the standards of discourse. Since the penalty is limited, that's okay. A comment can have far worse consequences than the loss of a few karma points. If you say the wrong thing, your reputation and (potentially) your livelihood are at risk. That's why, for anything remotely controversial, I use pseudonymous accounts. It's simply not worth it to have my real-world reputation ruined. I can't imagine the deluge of hate that would descend upon me if some of my views were known; doubly-so for misconstrued versions of them. I can already hear the haters: "Chroma approves of torture!"[1][2], "Chroma is sexist!"[3][4], "Chroma is ageist!"[5] "Chroma hates muslims!"[6][7], "Chroma hates the Amish!"[8], "Chroma hates pilots!"[9], "Chroma wants to slaughter all lions!"[10], "Chroma thinks motorcycle riders are mentally ill!"[11] Etcetera. That said, I agree with you on defensive writing. When expressing anything controversial, defensive writing is mostly a waste of effort. Simply holding the opinion is cause enough for others to downvote and denigrate. Unless it's something very close to your audience's views, you might as well aim for good prose and avoid hedges. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10531577 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10531577 2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8725500 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8725500 3. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10443021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10443021 4. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4321440 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4321440 5. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8889897 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8889897 6. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9530853 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9530853 7. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8879389 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8879389 8. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9280711 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9280711 9. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10417447 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10417447 10. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10476699 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10476699 11. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8569078 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8569078