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I did! May as well plug it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14456203 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14456203 To say I'm off-topic on a thread about

I did! May as well plug it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14456203 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14456203 To say I'm off-topic on a thread about bitcoin is a bit of a stretch. Not all of us have a blog and an HN army to upvote our weekly motivational posts to funnel views to our consulting business. You want me to wait until a blog post about exactly this topic comes up? I addressed your abuse argument directly in my edit, which you saw, so this comment was probably the definition of bad faith writing. More amusing than annoying, actually. (Also, the accounts are at the exchanges, which can be closed. Of course, you know this, so I wonder why you're writing this way.) But yeah, this is exactly why it's verboten to even mention downvotes on HN. I was trying to call attention to a more serious problem, which is that when the voting system loses value, what's the point in contributing? I don't mind this particular instance of it, but it's getting harder to ignore the trend. Nonetheless, with low-value comment chains like this one popping up every time someone even mentions it, it's best not to talk about it.

jacquesm 9y ago
> I addressed your abuse argument directly in my edit, which you saw, so this comment was probably the definition of bad faith writing. How I read HN is none of your business but just FYI I opened the tab when your comment was in its original un-edited state and when I hit reply your edit wasn't there yet. Talk about bad faith.
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  FYI I opened the tab when your comment was in its original un-edited state and when I hit reply your edit wasn't there yet. From your original comment: Also, you're off-topic so no point complaining about the downvotes, and didn't you make it so that you no longer saw whether or not you were downvoted? This is a response to my edit. I get that we probably did the whole whoops-didn't-see-the-edit a little bit, but c'mon, my comment stayed identical in substance the whole time it was posted. I think I added a sentence at the end a few minutes after it was posted, then the "EDIT:" part about an hour later. Why don't we kiss and make up? I promise to engage with you in good faith if you do the same.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    Yes, I can edit too, which I usually do if a comment has changed and I see that change after I submit. You're reading way too much into this.
    - sillysaurus3 9y ago
      Ok mods (and audience), I'm sorry for this tedious subthread. I'm going to try extra hard not to mention downvotes anymore. As for you, I don't know what the deal is, but if you feel like attacking me in the future please understand my comment first. EDIT: Okay, listen. The reaction was to this part: "but you have to at least make a minimal effort to understand how the whole thing works and what the abuse potential is for your suggestions." That felt like a personal swipe, combined with the rest of the comment that read as "hey you're offtopic and didn't you write a script to hide downvotes anyway." It felt like that was written solely to put me on the defensive. So -- principle of charity -- I'd rather assume that this was all a miscommunication rather than malicious. The spat is tedious, I like your writing, so for the second time here is an olive branch.
      - jacquesm 9y ago
        > Not all of us have a blog and an HN army to upvote our weekly motivational posts to funnel views to our consulting business. Who started the attack here? That was an asshole comment. I don't have an army to upvote my posts and I don't funnel views to my consulting business. I've NEVER had any paid work through HN.
unclebucknasty 9y ago
Since we're already in meta-mode... FWIW, I disagree with virtually everything you've written on this thread, but haven't downvoted you once. Even for those who realize votes are about as valuable as a warm bucket of spit, it can submarine comments into oblivion, ensuring that fewer people see dissenting ideas. I don't care about votes, but I do take time to comment to engage in discussion. Downvoting over disagreement is silly, counter-productive, discourages free expression, and encourages group-think. This is true, even if a decade old pg post endorsed downvoting as a means of disagreement.

jacquesm 9y ago

> I addressed your abuse argument directly in my edit, which you saw, so this comment was probably the definition of bad faith writing. How I read HN is none of your business but just FYI I opened the tab when your comment was in its original un-edited state and when I hit reply your edit wasn't there yet. Talk about bad faith.

sillysaurus3 9y ago
FYI I opened the tab when your comment was in its original un-edited state and when I hit reply your edit wasn't there yet. From your original comment: Also, you're off-topic so no point complaining about the downvotes, and didn't you make it so that you no longer saw whether or not you were downvoted? This is a response to my edit. I get that we probably did the whole whoops-didn't-see-the-edit a little bit, but c'mon, my comment stayed identical in substance the whole time it was posted. I think I added a sentence at the end a few minutes after it was posted, then the "EDIT:" part about an hour later. Why don't we kiss and make up? I promise to engage with you in good faith if you do the same.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Yes, I can edit too, which I usually do if a comment has changed and I see that change after I submit. You're reading way too much into this.
  - sillysaurus3 9y ago
    Ok mods (and audience), I'm sorry for this tedious subthread. I'm going to try extra hard not to mention downvotes anymore. As for you, I don't know what the deal is, but if you feel like attacking me in the future please understand my comment first. EDIT: Okay, listen. The reaction was to this part: "but you have to at least make a minimal effort to understand how the whole thing works and what the abuse potential is for your suggestions." That felt like a personal swipe, combined with the rest of the comment that read as "hey you're offtopic and didn't you write a script to hide downvotes anyway." It felt like that was written solely to put me on the defensive. So -- principle of charity -- I'd rather assume that this was all a miscommunication rather than malicious. The spat is tedious, I like your writing, so for the second time here is an olive branch.
    - jacquesm 9y ago
      > Not all of us have a blog and an HN army to upvote our weekly motivational posts to funnel views to our consulting business. Who started the attack here? That was an asshole comment. I don't have an army to upvote my posts and I don't funnel views to my consulting business. I've NEVER had any paid work through HN.

unclebucknasty 9y ago

Since we're already in meta-mode... FWIW, I disagree with virtually everything you've written on this thread, but haven't downvoted you once. Even for those who realize votes are about as valuable as a warm bucket of spit, it can submarine comments into oblivion, ensuring that fewer people see dissenting ideas. I don't care about votes, but I do take time to comment to engage in discussion. Downvoting over disagreement is silly, counter-productive, discourages free expression, and encourages group-think. This is true, even if a decade old pg post endorsed downvoting as a means of disagreement.