5 ms·

Why didn't you upvote any of these? Your screenshots show comments for which you haven't yet voted. The first two (as of right now) are currently sitting at ze

Why didn't you upvote any of these? Your screenshots show comments for which you haven't yet voted. The first two (as of right now) are currently sitting at zero, and with your upvotes they would be fairly sitting at one. I think that we can agree that the larger the community, the more likely that we'll see random downvotes. However, any unfairly-downvoted comments will generally be fixed by the rest of the community over time. The question is whether the comment scores fairly represent the comment in the long-term. I think that a score of 1 is fair for the first two, and if you had upvoted, that's where they would be. I don't think there's currently a downvoting issue; the community is handling it quite well, and unfair votes are corrected quickly. There are some edge cases where some comments with a low number of views (such as those in a story with few votes, or in a story with a large number of comments) might unfairly get stuck at 0 or -1, but it's somewhat rare. If 1-2% of comments are unfairly sitting at zero or -1, I don't think it's a big deal. I disagree with you about the 3rd comment. The last pair of sentences is pure flamebait, which is why it's being downvoted.

jacquesm 16y ago
Maybe he did and they were sitting at -1, or even lower.
- sounddust 16y ago
  You can see the up/down arrows in the screenshots, which indicates that he was not only logged in (because of the existence of the down arrow), but hadn't yet voted.
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    Maybe he took the screenshots before voting.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    Ok, how would he have to show they were at -X if he had pushed them up again. That's what the screenshots were for. No point in contaminating his 'evidence'. Really, you're reading a lot in to very little. Argue the case of the downvotes, not the man behind the criticism, of course he could have upvoted them, but he still can, can't he ?
    - sounddust 16y ago
      I'm not trying to criticize the OP. My point was that downvoting isn't a problem if people are pushing them up again. If a comment is sitting at zero and you are capable of pushing it to +1, then there isn't a problem yet, assuming the comment deserves to be at +1 (and in my opinion, +1 is a fair score for the first two). In other words, it's not worth complaining about downvotes until good comments are getting stuck in negative territory and you can't do anything about it. When that happens, I think that this is a discussion worth having. I don't think we're there yet. Argue the case of the downvotes I did, in my 2nd and 3rd paragraphs (the majority of what I wrote).
CWuestefeld 16y ago
When I see this, I routinely up-vote the comment, as well as add a reply pointing out that the comment was legitimate. (and this generally scores me several cheap karma points on my reply :) ) I think that there's a "leaky abstraction" problem in up- and down-voting. The intent of voting (afaik) is to show meritorious comments, so other readers can find the most insightful writing. But it's also taken to indicating agreement or disagreement. Even the most insightful, well-researched comment may get down-voted by people who dislike its sentiment; while (less frequently) vapid comments that add nothing to the discussion get up-votes.

jacquesm 16y ago

Maybe he did and they were sitting at -1, or even lower.

sounddust 16y ago
You can see the up/down arrows in the screenshots, which indicates that he was not only logged in (because of the existence of the down arrow), but hadn't yet voted.
- rbanffy 16y ago
  Maybe he took the screenshots before voting.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  Ok, how would he have to show they were at -X if he had pushed them up again. That's what the screenshots were for. No point in contaminating his 'evidence'. Really, you're reading a lot in to very little. Argue the case of the downvotes, not the man behind the criticism, of course he could have upvoted them, but he still can, can't he ?
  - sounddust 16y ago
    I'm not trying to criticize the OP. My point was that downvoting isn't a problem if people are pushing them up again. If a comment is sitting at zero and you are capable of pushing it to +1, then there isn't a problem yet, assuming the comment deserves to be at +1 (and in my opinion, +1 is a fair score for the first two). In other words, it's not worth complaining about downvotes until good comments are getting stuck in negative territory and you can't do anything about it. When that happens, I think that this is a discussion worth having. I don't think we're there yet. Argue the case of the downvotes I did, in my 2nd and 3rd paragraphs (the majority of what I wrote).

CWuestefeld 16y ago

When I see this, I routinely up-vote the comment, as well as add a reply pointing out that the comment was legitimate. (and this generally scores me several cheap karma points on my reply :) ) I think that there's a "leaky abstraction" problem in up- and down-voting. The intent of voting (afaik) is to show meritorious comments, so other readers can find the most insightful writing. But it's also taken to indicating agreement or disagreement. Even the most insightful, well-researched comment may get down-voted by people who dislike its sentiment; while (less frequently) vapid comments that add nothing to the discussion get up-votes.