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I always felt "down-voting" should cost something. Maybe 1 karma/point/etc. so that people who would down-vote should feel they are invested enough to do so. As

by esturk 10y ago

I always felt "down-voting" should cost something. Maybe 1 karma/point/etc. so that people who would down-vote should feel they are invested enough to do so. As it is right now, down voting is too easy and detached to other's thoughts even after reading it. Fundamentally, this is to create some value towards the point system so that people would put more thought into posting as well as down-voting. If someone wants the ability to down-vote, then they should write meaningful comments to gather the karma needed to do so.

jessaustin 10y ago
I entirely disagree. Down-voting is a defense of the commons. The best way to teach us not to post shit, is for our shit to be down-voted mercilessly, with no explanation. I've got over 14k internet points, and I get down-voted every week at least, usually without discussion. I appreciate that, because it helps me learn to contribute better, without sucking me into a black hole of personality conflict. Every down-vote represents someone who was annoyed by what I posted, and we all benefit by reducing annoyance here. Truly unfair down-votes are typically corrected (...and then some) by up-votes from other users. One probably doesn't understand why one is down-voted, the first time it happens. One probably doesn't understand every down-vote one gets, even with long experience. Over time, however, one gets a better and better idea about what we need here, and what we don't. It's even better if it's unconscious, and we edit our posts to be more "HN-style" without paying attention to why a particular expression conforms to that or not. This process is only disrupted by lengthy back-and-forth discussion of who said what and why and who interpreted that how and why. Try not to think of down-votes as a reflection of your character or worth as a human. Rather, they are a snap judgment of a single verbal expression, made at a single point in time.

by esturk 10y ago

jessaustin 10y ago

I entirely disagree. Down-voting is a defense of the commons. The best way to teach us not to post shit, is for our shit to be down-voted mercilessly, with no explanation. I've got over 14k internet points, and I get down-voted every week at least, usually without discussion. I appreciate that, because it helps me learn to contribute better, without sucking me into a black hole of personality conflict. Every down-vote represents someone who was annoyed by what I posted, and we all benefit by reducing annoyance here. Truly unfair down-votes are typically corrected (...and then some) by up-votes from other users. One probably doesn't understand why one is down-voted, the first time it happens. One probably doesn't understand every down-vote one gets, even with long experience. Over time, however, one gets a better and better idea about what we need here, and what we don't. It's even better if it's unconscious, and we edit our posts to be more "HN-style" without paying attention to why a particular expression conforms to that or not. This process is only disrupted by lengthy back-and-forth discussion of who said what and why and who interpreted that how and why. Try not to think of down-votes as a reflection of your character or worth as a human. Rather, they are a snap judgment of a single verbal expression, made at a single point in time.