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Here is why - even if I risk more downvotes or getting flagged down: If someone flags your comment on HN, you can only post about 4 comments per day and news s

by frik 9y ago

Here is why - even if I risk more downvotes or getting flagged down: If someone flags your comment on HN, you can only post about 4 comments per day and news submit feature is "practically" disabled - HN displays a "slow down, don't submit so fast" Error message which of course makes little sense. Also your comments will start with a lower/negative value behind the scene, you will find your posts on the bottom even if it says 1 votes, and other comments with negative value may be above yours. There is a lot of monitoring by companies contracted obviously by $$ going on, to shape PR and public opinion. Be it employees, fanboys, or paid PR drones, it doesn't matter, they are quite toxic to the community at large I would say. I would wish more moderation in regard, and the removal of the downvote- and flag-functionality for everyone (but moderators).

dEnigma 9y ago
Okay, I understand. I agree that the Hacker News comment system isn't optimal. Downvotes shouldn't hide a comment. Unpopular opinions shouldn't be suppressed. I'm not sure how the flag-functionality works, but if it can hide a comment without moderator input, then I'm all for replacing it with a "report"-function. Too many times one sees throwaway accounts being used for expressing possibly unpopular thoughts. I can only imagine how many comments weren't written, because somebody was afraid of downvotes and losing the good standing of his account. Personally I too have started writing a couple comments and not posted them in the end, because I was afraid of downvotes and the associated consequences. Having to think like that doesn't exactly help to make HN a diverse and interesting place.