4 ms·
Hmm, I don’t know, I think I see people tend to vote if they think a comment’s score should be higher or lower than it is. For example, unoffensive but unhelpf
by alanh 16y ago
Hmm, I don’t know, I think I see people tend to vote if they think a comment’s score should be higher or lower than it is. For example, unoffensive but unhelpful or off-topic comments never seem to make it to -10 — most people seem to make sure the comment ends up at 0 or -1. This isn’t because slightly less than 50% of those who read it disagree, it’s because everyone thought it needed to be at 0 or -1.
Right?
- jules 16y agoThey never end up at -10 because HN is implemented that way. If the score is lower than -4 it displays -4, but the real score could be lower.
- Kliment 16y agoI believe the point is that people tend to leave those comments at zero/-1 rather than downvoting them further. That has nothing to do with the -4 limit.
- alanh 16y agoWhat's the reasoning here?
- Groxx 16y agoNot entirely sure, I've wondered a bit myself. The main one I come back to is that if a comment is worth both -4 net points and nigh-invisibility with the text fading, it's probably worth more. And only people with > X points (200? I think?) are capable of down-voting on -4 comments. Collectively, they serve to be stronger punishment for truly bad comments, controlled by people who have been here longer / contributed more, who probably know this behavior and vote accordingly.