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Ask HN: Do you look at the submitter when up-voting?

3 points by kgermino 16y ago

When deciding whether to up-vote a submission or comment are you more likely to up-vote it if the submitter is a name you recognize?

jwegan 16y ago
Considering I'm new here, there are no names I recognize. So the answer is no.
- mikeleeorg 16y ago
  Same here. Plus, I look at all of these headlines on Google Reader, which doesn't display the submitter's username.
grayrest 16y ago
If I'm hit/miss on an article, I'll look at the submitter. Otherwise, I don't really pay attention. I upvote only articles I really enjoy, which is roughly 2-3 a week so it's really not a factor.
- kgermino 16y ago
  That's actually what made me ask. I don't normally even check but I had just read an article that I thought was borderline and I noticed that it was posted by jacquesm, someone who I recognize as a regular, and voted it up. It's an almost sub-conscience bias but I think it's interesting. Also I tend to up-vote a-lot so it's probably more significant for me.
  - olefoo 16y ago
    Well, familiarity is the first cognitive bias, recognition is easier than cognition. And the assumption that past good behaviour indicates future good behaviour is a heuristic that will work most of the time. That said, I do hope most people read the linked article before voting.
  - grayrest 16y ago
    To be more precise, I look at the poster if I'm hit/miss on reading the article. Who posted it has nothing to with how I vote.
tokenadult 16y ago
Only incidentally. Mostly, I look at the article. I recognize a lot of submitter names after more than a year here, but I don't always notice those when I visit the new page (or the main page) on HN. At least once, I have read an article without even noticing that it was submitted by the one and only HN user whom I know in offline life.
oldgregg 16y ago
Only if it's my doppelganger old-gregg. I'll bump into that scaly man fish on random threads now and then-- I know nothing about him except he has insightful comments and like him I was a Rails developer in NYC... I know you're out there and I'm watching you.
pbhjpbhj 16y ago
I've been around here for a while. I don't bother to look at who writes what until/unless someone defames me or argues with me. As I tend to scan the comments I skip over the points/names line anyway.
JacobAldridge 16y ago
Nope. I don't usually check the name until after I up (or down) vote, and I do that in an attempt to better understand the community more. It never ceases to surprise me how often I up-vote a great comment and then discover it was pg or patio11, but those guys have also received the occasional down-vote when I felt they'd been unhelpful or off topic.

3 points by kgermino 16y ago

When deciding whether to up-vote a submission or comment are you more likely to up-vote it if the submitter is a name you recognize?

jwegan 16y ago

Considering I'm new here, there are no names I recognize. So the answer is no.

mikeleeorg 16y ago
Same here. Plus, I look at all of these headlines on Google Reader, which doesn't display the submitter's username.

grayrest 16y ago

If I'm hit/miss on an article, I'll look at the submitter. Otherwise, I don't really pay attention. I upvote only articles I really enjoy, which is roughly 2-3 a week so it's really not a factor.

kgermino 16y ago
That's actually what made me ask. I don't normally even check but I had just read an article that I thought was borderline and I noticed that it was posted by jacquesm, someone who I recognize as a regular, and voted it up. It's an almost sub-conscience bias but I think it's interesting. Also I tend to up-vote a-lot so it's probably more significant for me.
- olefoo 16y ago
  Well, familiarity is the first cognitive bias, recognition is easier than cognition. And the assumption that past good behaviour indicates future good behaviour is a heuristic that will work most of the time. That said, I do hope most people read the linked article before voting.
- grayrest 16y ago
  To be more precise, I look at the poster if I'm hit/miss on reading the article. Who posted it has nothing to with how I vote.

tokenadult 16y ago

Only incidentally. Mostly, I look at the article. I recognize a lot of submitter names after more than a year here, but I don't always notice those when I visit the new page (or the main page) on HN. At least once, I have read an article without even noticing that it was submitted by the one and only HN user whom I know in offline life.

oldgregg 16y ago

Only if it's my doppelganger old-gregg. I'll bump into that scaly man fish on random threads now and then-- I know nothing about him except he has insightful comments and like him I was a Rails developer in NYC... I know you're out there and I'm watching you.

pbhjpbhj 16y ago

I've been around here for a while. I don't bother to look at who writes what until/unless someone defames me or argues with me. As I tend to scan the comments I skip over the points/names line anyway.

JacobAldridge 16y ago

Nope. I don't usually check the name until after I up (or down) vote, and I do that in an attempt to better understand the community more. It never ceases to surprise me how often I up-vote a great comment and then discover it was pg or patio11, but those guys have also received the occasional down-vote when I felt they'd been unhelpful or off topic.