> The basis of that opinion is my belief that the use of downvotes to express disagreement often has a more positive net effect on Hacker News than a comment ex

> The basis of that opinion is my belief that the use of downvotes to express disagreement often has a more positive net effect on Hacker News than a comment expressing disagreement. I beg to differ. I have the impression that there are many large topics that the HN community as a whole has pretty homogeneous opinions on, and that this "community opinion" is self-reinforced by (amongst others) down-voting comments that do not conform to it. IMO, that is an open door for confirmation bias. And I don't think that that is something we want to be associated with... Having said that, I fully agree with downvoting comments that are obviously only trying to start an argument. However, I would not do so because I disagree with the opinion, but on the basis that such arguments for the sake of argument are "a net negative to the discussion", as Udo put it.