> I guess I just feel like a downvote is a slap It's not; that's all I can say. I've gotten plenty of them. Note that nobody else knows the score of your comme

> I guess I just feel like a downvote is a slap It's not; that's all I can say. I've gotten plenty of them. Note that nobody else knows the score of your comment unless it's < 1. > why would I get the same treatment as someone who contributes negatively FWIW, comments that don't contribute do have a negative impact. They encourage more of the same, reducing signal-to-noise. The behavior spreads like a virus. This link may explain some of the ideas behind how HN works: http://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html http://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html I hope that helps! Stick around; it's just a different culture with a different agenda.