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That idea works in theory, but in practice it makes comments a popularity contest. Eventually, people with minority opinions figure out that their ideas are unp
by bendykstra 11y ago
That idea works in theory, but in practice it makes comments a popularity contest. Eventually, people with minority opinions figure out that their ideas are unpopular and leave or stop commenting. The end result is monoculture. A great illustration of this phenomenon is Reddit's politics subreddit. In theory, it is a place to discuss American politics. In practice, its discussion is almost entirely centered around a single candidate from one party. The downvote button windowed the community and then winnowed it again until a political atom remained.
- acjohnson55 11y agoI don't think HN is monocultural, at least to a pathological extent. There's quite a bit of debate here. The overwhelming majority of grayed out comments are baseless, off-topic, or unnecessarily inflammatory, from my perspective. I think that's because there's a norm to agree with an upvote, disagree with a non-vote, and reserve downvotes for unproductive commentary. People seem to upvote unfairly gray comments regardless of their personal agreement.
- bendykstra 11y agoI don't think it is either, but if we began downvoting for mere disagreement as the person that I responded to advocated, then I think it would.
- DanBC 11y ago>if we began downvoting for mere disagreement as the person that I responded to advocated Downvote for disagreement has been on HN for longer than you've had your account. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=658683 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=658683
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- imtringued 11y agoPretty much any subreddit reaches this state with sufficient time.
- crdoconnor 11y agoWell, politics is a popularity contest. If you actually wanted a discussion of political philosophy or to discuss other less popular candidates, there's other places for that.