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Same. One of the best things about HN is the discussion. When others downvote because they disagree, people end up afraid to share an unpopular opinion.

• rusk 8y ago
  Not only that, but you'll often find that some potentially valuable counterpoints to the discussion get downvoted to the bottom where they can't be read. Sometimes greyed out. Sometimes flagged. Such comments are effectively buried anyway so may as well delete ...
  • dragonwriter 8y ago
    > but you'll often find that some potentially valuable counterpoints to the discussion get downvoted to the bottom where they can't be read Yes, they can. Even if they are dead, if the reader chooses to see dead comments.
    • rusk 8y ago
      that's just stupid
• alehul 8y ago
  So true, and the lack of Reddit-style doenvoting for disagreement is what has made HN so special to me. With all the polarization and the HN population growing, however, 'bad downvotes' seem to be increasing. I don't find myself agreeing over the downvoting of every grey comment like I used to. Many are clearly not based on 'not adding value to the discussion', but instead 'not adding the value I want to hear.' I remember, actually, what really piqued my interest with HN on my first visit. I saw a front-page article with a couple climate change deniers, and they were upvoted, along with the other side of the debate! Would that still occur now?