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Ask HN: What's your voting philosophy here on HN?

I'll admit it. On any thread I read I scroll down to the bottom and generally upvote the lowest top-level comment. Often if very snarky, there is good truth to what's being expressed. I rarely upvote the most upvoted top-level comment as I find them often to be puppeting along some type of information in a grade-grubbing type of way. I went to med school I know that type. I think voting is hugely important to HN's fate yet its basically forbidden to mention it. Yet, there are all these rules on what constitutes a good HN comment. Weird if you ask me. What's your approach to HN voting?

niftich 10y ago
If I see a comment that says close to what I would've said, I upvote it. Then, I inspect that comment's parent. Notwithstanding whether I agree or disagree with substance of the parent comment, I parse it for tone and intent, and if I detect respectful tone and benign intent, I upvote it because it contributed to the discussion (by prompting a thoughtful reply). I recursively apply this strategy for all comments.
l33tbro 10y ago
Upvote: Always genuinely considered and insightful comments. Particularly if it has engaged with article. Also specialized or battle-hardened knowledge on a subject being shared generously by a commentor. Downvote: Anything negative for no real reason. Reddit-style punmanship.
dragonwriter 10y ago
Upvote = notably above-average contribution to discussion, more like this please (even if I disagree with the point being made.) Downvote = notably below-average contribution to discussion, please don't do this (even if I agree with the point being made, e.g., do the way it is made, or to it being made when it is off-topic deflection from the thread topic.)
chrisbennet 10y ago
Up vote: Thoughtful insights or comments and comments that I think have been downvoted undeservedly. Downvote: I rarely down-vote. I know it is ok to down-vote to show disagreement, but don't use it that way. I down-vote hateful comments.
J_Darnley 10y ago
If its grey and moderately funny, I upvote it. Screw you fun-hating people.
- mod 10y ago
  I'm not fun-hating, I just get that elsewhere.
jakobegger 10y ago
I sometimes downvote the top comment if I think that those below are much better (especially if the top comment is a common argument that is often posted on HN, and so doesn't really add much to the discussion)
MalcolmDiggs 10y ago
This is a "voting philosophy" thread the day after the conventions end, and there isn't a single Trump or Hillary joke in here. I'm disappointed guys...
veddox 10y ago
Upvoting: If I find a comment thought-provoking and well argued, or if it gives interesting, insightful or funny information, I upvote it. Occasionally I also upvote previously downvoted posts if I think the downvote unwarranted. Comments that express my opinions also often tend to get upvotes (if they represent a meaningful contribution to the discussion.) On the whole I am quite liberal about giving out upvotes, though I do take care not to do it in an inflatory manner. Downvoting: I can't yet ;-) If I could, I would do it for comments that are way off-topic, contravene the guidelines or are gratuitously negative (especially if they involve personal attacks on other people in the discussion). One thing I cannot stand is downvoting because you simply disagree with an opinion. We need diversity of opinion here, and on more important subjects than whether JS or Ruby is better for web dev. (As it is, the HN community is already pretty strict about enforcing a certain mindset on commenters. That is a Good Thing where values such as "Be polite" and "Be constructive" are involved, but can quickly become very dangerous if we start codifying opinions.) Basically, downvoting because of opinion pampers to confirmation bias and should thus be avoided. Note that I consider upvoting for opinion fine, as the psychological effect of an upvote is significantly weaker than that of a downvote - at least in my experience.
anonx 10y ago
I upvote every submission that raises a point I'm interested in. As for the comments, I upvote both the ones I really agree with and the ones that contain some interesting information I haven't heard before or interesting arguments. Apart from that, I frequently upvote downvoted comments.

niftich 10y ago

If I see a comment that says close to what I would've said, I upvote it. Then, I inspect that comment's parent. Notwithstanding whether I agree or disagree with substance of the parent comment, I parse it for tone and intent, and if I detect respectful tone and benign intent, I upvote it because it contributed to the discussion (by prompting a thoughtful reply). I recursively apply this strategy for all comments.

l33tbro 10y ago

Upvote: Always genuinely considered and insightful comments. Particularly if it has engaged with article. Also specialized or battle-hardened knowledge on a subject being shared generously by a commentor. Downvote: Anything negative for no real reason. Reddit-style punmanship.

dragonwriter 10y ago

Upvote = notably above-average contribution to discussion, more like this please (even if I disagree with the point being made.) Downvote = notably below-average contribution to discussion, please don't do this (even if I agree with the point being made, e.g., do the way it is made, or to it being made when it is off-topic deflection from the thread topic.)

chrisbennet 10y ago

Up vote: Thoughtful insights or comments and comments that I think have been downvoted undeservedly. Downvote: I rarely down-vote. I know it is ok to down-vote to show disagreement, but don't use it that way. I down-vote hateful comments.

J_Darnley 10y ago

If its grey and moderately funny, I upvote it. Screw you fun-hating people.

mod 10y ago
I'm not fun-hating, I just get that elsewhere.

jakobegger 10y ago

I sometimes downvote the top comment if I think that those below are much better (especially if the top comment is a common argument that is often posted on HN, and so doesn't really add much to the discussion)

MalcolmDiggs 10y ago

This is a "voting philosophy" thread the day after the conventions end, and there isn't a single Trump or Hillary joke in here. I'm disappointed guys...

veddox 10y ago

Upvoting: If I find a comment thought-provoking and well argued, or if it gives interesting, insightful or funny information, I upvote it. Occasionally I also upvote previously downvoted posts if I think the downvote unwarranted. Comments that express my opinions also often tend to get upvotes (if they represent a meaningful contribution to the discussion.) On the whole I am quite liberal about giving out upvotes, though I do take care not to do it in an inflatory manner. Downvoting: I can't yet ;-) If I could, I would do it for comments that are way off-topic, contravene the guidelines or are gratuitously negative (especially if they involve personal attacks on other people in the discussion). One thing I cannot stand is downvoting because you simply disagree with an opinion. We need diversity of opinion here, and on more important subjects than whether JS or Ruby is better for web dev. (As it is, the HN community is already pretty strict about enforcing a certain mindset on commenters. That is a Good Thing where values such as "Be polite" and "Be constructive" are involved, but can quickly become very dangerous if we start codifying opinions.) Basically, downvoting because of opinion pampers to confirmation bias and should thus be avoided. Note that I consider upvoting for opinion fine, as the psychological effect of an upvote is significantly weaker than that of a downvote - at least in my experience.

anonx 10y ago

I upvote every submission that raises a point I'm interested in. As for the comments, I upvote both the ones I really agree with and the ones that contain some interesting information I haven't heard before or interesting arguments. Apart from that, I frequently upvote downvoted comments.