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The "HN Users, please upvote this" banner at the bottom is disconcerting. If HN is becoming a place people are desperate to get their stories voted up on, I fea

The "HN Users, please upvote this" banner at the bottom is disconcerting. If HN is becoming a place people are desperate to get their stories voted up on, I fear the quality is going to start decreasing dramatically in the coming months.

wwortiz 16y ago
> Hello there, fellow HN user! If you like this post, I'd really appreciate an upvote. That has been there for a while, I thought he might of changed that to what you wrote but as it is now, it is just asking if you like it to upvote it which is how hacker news works. You don't get this if you don't come from hacker news either.
- marknutter 16y ago
  Do we really need a banner reminding us to upvote a story we like? I'm pretty sure all HNers understand how voting sites work.
  - wwortiz 16y ago
    No but this has been there for a long time and your previous comment was marking it as a coming downfall in hacker news.
ZeroMinx 16y ago
Agreed. I wont vote a story up because of this. Same as tweets with "Please RT". stfu, I will RT if I think it's worth spreading, not because you tell me to
ryanwaggoner 16y ago
That's a Wordpress plugin called "WP Greet Box" [1] and this message is only shown to users coming from HN, not everyone. Also, you'll be happy to know that I get grief for it every time one of my posts lands on the homepage :) I understand your concern, but it's really just a reminder to vote the article up if you enjoyed it. I frequently read good articles and then forget to vote them up because something else catches my attention. I really doubt anyone is swayed to upvote an article they didn't think worthy because of this message. Just the opposite: some hacker types get worked up because they seem to be allergic to promotion of any kind, and thus won't upvote the article, even though they would have otherwise. But I'm betting that the balance of people who upvote because they liked the article AND because they were reminded outweighs the anti-promotion crowd. Either way, I don't think it's a big deal. Sorry if it offended you. 1. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-greet-box/ http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-greet-box/
- rwhitman 16y ago
  I thought using the WP Greet Box for HN upvote was a smart move. Definitely piqued my interest in referrer-based call to action
- frossie 16y ago
  For what it's worth - Every time i click on an HN story I also open the comment page (in two new tabs - I use the fabulous Tree Style Tab firefox extension to stop that becoming as insane as it sounds). That way after I read the story, even if I go away, the comment page is still open so I can upvote it when I am clearing up later. In that way I rarely if ever forget to upvote a story I liked. I don't particularly like having my upvote solicited because it makes the thing seem too much like a popularity contest - the people who lobby end up getting more than the equally worthy ones that don't.
  - edanm 16y ago
    Funny. I also always open the comment page and the article at the same time (no tree plugin though). And yet, I very often forget to upvote the article, since I'm usually eager to dive into the comments. Interestingly, in this case, I saw the "please upvote" message, said to myself "ok let's go upvote on the comment page I have open", and still forgot to do it because I started reading comments. This thread reminded me to do it. :)
- evgeny0 16y ago
  Have you done A/B testing on that, ie. whether you get more or fewer upvotes with the reminder?

wwortiz 16y ago

> Hello there, fellow HN user! If you like this post, I'd really appreciate an upvote. That has been there for a while, I thought he might of changed that to what you wrote but as it is now, it is just asking if you like it to upvote it which is how hacker news works. You don't get this if you don't come from hacker news either.

marknutter 16y ago
Do we really need a banner reminding us to upvote a story we like? I'm pretty sure all HNers understand how voting sites work.
- wwortiz 16y ago
  No but this has been there for a long time and your previous comment was marking it as a coming downfall in hacker news.

ZeroMinx 16y ago

Agreed. I wont vote a story up because of this. Same as tweets with "Please RT". stfu, I will RT if I think it's worth spreading, not because you tell me to

ryanwaggoner 16y ago

That's a Wordpress plugin called "WP Greet Box" [1] and this message is only shown to users coming from HN, not everyone. Also, you'll be happy to know that I get grief for it every time one of my posts lands on the homepage :) I understand your concern, but it's really just a reminder to vote the article up if you enjoyed it. I frequently read good articles and then forget to vote them up because something else catches my attention. I really doubt anyone is swayed to upvote an article they didn't think worthy because of this message. Just the opposite: some hacker types get worked up because they seem to be allergic to promotion of any kind, and thus won't upvote the article, even though they would have otherwise. But I'm betting that the balance of people who upvote because they liked the article AND because they were reminded outweighs the anti-promotion crowd. Either way, I don't think it's a big deal. Sorry if it offended you. 1. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-greet-box/ http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-greet-box/

rwhitman 16y ago
I thought using the WP Greet Box for HN upvote was a smart move. Definitely piqued my interest in referrer-based call to action
frossie 16y ago
For what it's worth - Every time i click on an HN story I also open the comment page (in two new tabs - I use the fabulous Tree Style Tab firefox extension to stop that becoming as insane as it sounds). That way after I read the story, even if I go away, the comment page is still open so I can upvote it when I am clearing up later. In that way I rarely if ever forget to upvote a story I liked. I don't particularly like having my upvote solicited because it makes the thing seem too much like a popularity contest - the people who lobby end up getting more than the equally worthy ones that don't.
- edanm 16y ago
  Funny. I also always open the comment page and the article at the same time (no tree plugin though). And yet, I very often forget to upvote the article, since I'm usually eager to dive into the comments. Interestingly, in this case, I saw the "please upvote" message, said to myself "ok let's go upvote on the comment page I have open", and still forgot to do it because I started reading comments. This thread reminded me to do it. :)
evgeny0 16y ago
Have you done A/B testing on that, ie. whether you get more or fewer upvotes with the reminder?