That's very likely in keeping with another recent thread here, entitled "Tell HN: Uptick in mean-spirited comments" ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=185256

That's very likely in keeping with another recent thread here, entitled "Tell HN: Uptick in mean-spirited comments" ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1852560 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1852560 ). One of the threadlets suggested possibilities like eliminating downvotes altogether and replacing them with the option to flag comments as inappropriate, the idea being that "no up" is a good enough disincentive for most purposes, and that downvoting should be considered a drastic measure. I think I've used the privilege twice, and I'm still not entirely sure that one of those downvotes was truly righteous.