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> I don't really completely agree with this argument but I'd like to remind the HN community not to downvote simply because you disagree. pg has explicitly sai
by freddie_mercury 7y ago
> I don't really completely agree with this argument but I'd like to remind the HN community not to downvote simply because you disagree.
pg has explicitly said that downvotes on Hacker News can be used for disagreement.
"Downvotes to express disagreement are part of the ethos of this site; it's a norm Paul Graham established almost a decade ago."
- Clubber 7y agoIt's not a great idea and here's why: it's an almost sure way to create an echo chamber. How? The point system is the gamification of the forums. It's designed to spur conversation while also an attempt at self moderation. When someone posts a controversial but trailblazing comment, like say "Scrum Agile doesn't work very well for their company and here's why," the barrage of downvotes from the orthodoxy makes that person lose points and disincentivizes them from making any more controversial posts (unless they just don't give a damn). Ergo, the conversation gravitates towards whatever the herd thinks is best. It's rewarding conventional thinking and discouraging unorthodox thought, which is poison to any technological discussion. Technology and in fact progress itself was built on questioning and even destroying the conventional.
- marcoseliziario 7y agoYes. Probably by design.
- dang 7y agoThat quote is from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17613243 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17613243, which was tptacek's. But yes: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=16131314&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...