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I don't think you deserve to be downvoted. My take on downvotes is that they are best reserved for comments that detract from the conversation - ones that are m

by skewart 10y ago

I don't think you deserve to be downvoted. My take on downvotes is that they are best reserved for comments that detract from the conversation - ones that are mean, sloppy, or misleading. While I don't necessarily agree with your comment I'm glad you shared it. I appreciate hearing different opinions and ideas. When people down vote to express disagreement with a well-articulated idea it makes HN a worse place. It silences dissent (by pushing it down on the screen and fading it).

eldavido 10y ago
Couldn't agree more. I've been noticing this a lot recently, where I and others get downvoted for earnest, articulate comments that do nothing but express a dissenting opinion. I think HN needs to explain that downvoting isn't "I disagree with this sentiment", it's "I think this is a bad comment that detracts from the quality of the conversation". I suspect new users might not know this since it's different from many other sites.
- thedufer 10y ago
  Why do you think that's what downvotes mean around here? pg explicitly disagrees with you, and his opinion would seem to matter. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171
  - skewart 10y ago
    I don't think his opinion matters more than anyone else's opinion. What's more, he's not an especially active member of the community these days.
  - mistermann 10y ago
    Luckily I clicked through and discovered the pg's opinion was not what I thought it was, and I consider myself to be a fairly knowledgeable user of HN. Regardless of what the intention of the up & down vote buttons are, what matters is the reality of what the userbase interprets them to be. I've always been under the impression that a downvote on HN is only for inappropriate discourse (as it is supposed to be on reddit, but then maybe I should go double check that belief as well), rather than disagreement.

by skewart 10y ago

eldavido 10y ago

Couldn't agree more. I've been noticing this a lot recently, where I and others get downvoted for earnest, articulate comments that do nothing but express a dissenting opinion. I think HN needs to explain that downvoting isn't "I disagree with this sentiment", it's "I think this is a bad comment that detracts from the quality of the conversation". I suspect new users might not know this since it's different from many other sites.

thedufer 10y ago
Why do you think that's what downvotes mean around here? pg explicitly disagrees with you, and his opinion would seem to matter. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171
- skewart 10y ago
  I don't think his opinion matters more than anyone else's opinion. What's more, he's not an especially active member of the community these days.
- mistermann 10y ago
  Luckily I clicked through and discovered the pg's opinion was not what I thought it was, and I consider myself to be a fairly knowledgeable user of HN. Regardless of what the intention of the up & down vote buttons are, what matters is the reality of what the userbase interprets them to be. I've always been under the impression that a downvote on HN is only for inappropriate discourse (as it is supposed to be on reddit, but then maybe I should go double check that belief as well), rather than disagreement.