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I disagree with many things that tptacek has to say, but I rarely downvote him. Indeed his remarks seem to be a source of much debate and I find that commendabl
by inopinatus 9y ago
I disagree with many things that tptacek has to say, but I rarely downvote him. Indeed his remarks seem to be a source of much debate and I find that commendable. In my view, downvoting should not be used to indicate disagreement, but to maintain the relatively high signal to noise ratio this forum enjoys. I reserve downvotes for ambit claims that are patently false, personal abuse, offensive language, wilfully begging the question, excessively sloppy or lazy reasoning, pretending to expertise, or simply being a pig-headed asshole about something. Having myself been guilty of these things from time to time, particular this latter, I feel comfortable suggesting that the majority of this community's members appear to apply a similar standard.
- DanBC 9y agoWhat do you use flagging for? What's the difference between your use of flags and downvotes?
- inopinatus 9y agoI flag very rarely, for egregiously offensive language, insults, gaslighting, bigotry.
- alex_duf 9y agoI quite like your guidelines on what to upvote or downvote. I'll try it as well. In fact, I wish there was a voting etiquette described here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Nothing too formal, but just a "here's how the community like to use voting tool"
- inopinatus 9y agoMy upvoting is much looser. I will upvote as a mark of agreement, or if I liked someone's framing of their point, for a nice story, for alliteration and wordplay, or if they mention someone or something I'm fond of, or indeed almost any other positive response from my limbic system. Guidelines are a potential bikeshed. I don't think it's a terrible idea, but be careful what you wish for.