5 ms·

> Respond to me, don't downvote me. I wish the guidelines contained a statement like, "Downvotes are for posts that don't follow these guidelines, not posts yo

by jolmg 7y ago

> Respond to me, don't downvote me. I wish the guidelines contained a statement like, "Downvotes are for posts that don't follow these guidelines, not posts you just disagree with." Downvoting for disagreement seems equivalent to replying "Shut up."

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
I have never found it productive to respond to a post saying "I downvoted this because I think you're needlessly injecting toxic partisanship into your response". (I'm not entirely sure it's productive even as a meta-comment here, but I feel obligated to explain it's not just a "shut up" button.)
- throwaway5752 7y ago
  Let me say I made a mistake mentioning it, and I don't care about points. I really only wanted to challenge people to reply in the case they disagreed. I respect their choice not to reply, also.
- jolmg 7y ago
  I don't know what you mean by productive, but I think it's just a matter of courtesy. There's no need to convince anyone or do follow-up discussion.
  - derefr 7y ago
    They mean that it’s more likely to cost the world utility (in terms of starting a flame war, often between third parties who are neither the OP nor the downvoter) than produce any utility (by satisfying the curiosity of the downvoted person.)
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
thatcat 7y ago
Not everyone has time to articulate their disagreement and since that is often more work than was put into the original statement, not really fair to expect. I would interpret it as a more general "nah". The author could then reflect and likely see reasons why someone would disagree.
- jolmg 7y ago
  It does have the effect of shutting them up by obscuring the comment, though. Reasons for disagreement could be many. Doesn't seem right to shut them up and leave them to guess what the problem was.
  - khrbrt 7y ago
    Downvoting is for cowards.
- woofie11 7y ago
  I find 90% of downvotes are douchebags who disagree on HN. Maybe 99% on sites like reddit. It leads to an echo chamber effect. People with different points of view feel unwelcome. I create throw-away accounts (one per device, until I clear cookies, and then a new one). I have one where literally everything I post gets a pile of downvotes. I'm assuming someone's stalking that one and using an army of bots to downvote everything I post, presumably because I offended them at some point. I think the fix is for a downvote to require a rationale -- you need to state why you're downvoting. Poster learns what not to do. Downvoter needs to do it for a quasi-rational reason.
  - thatcat 7y ago
    I mean you have to have 500 karma to down vote and they can detect bots especially if you contact admin and report it. If you require explaination it enables trolls to do the equivallent of logic bombing the discussion, requireing an asymettric amount of resources to respond and spamming the thread with meta convos.
    - 7y ago
Brave-Steak 7y ago
I honestly wish sites like HN would get rid of downvotes. It's generally only useful for generating an echo chamber. If a comment is particularly disruptive, it should just be reported. Otherwise lack of upvotes will naturally send it to the bottom of the page and comments giving reasonable responses if the comment is wrong about something are more than sufficient.
rashkov 7y ago
If I’m editing code and I see some code that doesn’t belong, then I delete it. Sometimes a downvote is similar. To comment further is to perpetuate a conversation which is, perhaps, better deleted. Please don’t take offense, but that includes this post of yours. I don’t need to read this down-vote debate for the 1000th time. This entire comment chain is basically off-topic and breaks the flow of an interesting discussion.
renewiltord 7y ago
You're the one in the wrong place. That's reddiquette etc. Behold, Word of God: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 > pg: I think it's ok to use the up and down arrows to express agreement. Obviously the uparrows aren't only for applauding politeness, so it seems reasonable that the downarrows aren't only for booing rudeness.

by jolmg 7y ago

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago

I have never found it productive to respond to a post saying "I downvoted this because I think you're needlessly injecting toxic partisanship into your response". (I'm not entirely sure it's productive even as a meta-comment here, but I feel obligated to explain it's not just a "shut up" button.)

throwaway5752 7y ago
Let me say I made a mistake mentioning it, and I don't care about points. I really only wanted to challenge people to reply in the case they disagreed. I respect their choice not to reply, also.
jolmg 7y ago
I don't know what you mean by productive, but I think it's just a matter of courtesy. There's no need to convince anyone or do follow-up discussion.
- derefr 7y ago
  They mean that it’s more likely to cost the world utility (in terms of starting a flame war, often between third parties who are neither the OP nor the downvoter) than produce any utility (by satisfying the curiosity of the downvoted person.)
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

thatcat 7y ago

Not everyone has time to articulate their disagreement and since that is often more work than was put into the original statement, not really fair to expect. I would interpret it as a more general "nah". The author could then reflect and likely see reasons why someone would disagree.

jolmg 7y ago
It does have the effect of shutting them up by obscuring the comment, though. Reasons for disagreement could be many. Doesn't seem right to shut them up and leave them to guess what the problem was.
- khrbrt 7y ago
  Downvoting is for cowards.
woofie11 7y ago
I find 90% of downvotes are douchebags who disagree on HN. Maybe 99% on sites like reddit. It leads to an echo chamber effect. People with different points of view feel unwelcome. I create throw-away accounts (one per device, until I clear cookies, and then a new one). I have one where literally everything I post gets a pile of downvotes. I'm assuming someone's stalking that one and using an army of bots to downvote everything I post, presumably because I offended them at some point. I think the fix is for a downvote to require a rationale -- you need to state why you're downvoting. Poster learns what not to do. Downvoter needs to do it for a quasi-rational reason.
- thatcat 7y ago
  I mean you have to have 500 karma to down vote and they can detect bots especially if you contact admin and report it. If you require explaination it enables trolls to do the equivallent of logic bombing the discussion, requireing an asymettric amount of resources to respond and spamming the thread with meta convos.
  - 7y ago

Brave-Steak 7y ago

I honestly wish sites like HN would get rid of downvotes. It's generally only useful for generating an echo chamber. If a comment is particularly disruptive, it should just be reported. Otherwise lack of upvotes will naturally send it to the bottom of the page and comments giving reasonable responses if the comment is wrong about something are more than sufficient.

rashkov 7y ago

If I’m editing code and I see some code that doesn’t belong, then I delete it. Sometimes a downvote is similar. To comment further is to perpetuate a conversation which is, perhaps, better deleted. Please don’t take offense, but that includes this post of yours. I don’t need to read this down-vote debate for the 1000th time. This entire comment chain is basically off-topic and breaks the flow of an interesting discussion.

renewiltord 7y ago

You're the one in the wrong place. That's reddiquette etc. Behold, Word of God: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 > pg: I think it's ok to use the up and down arrows to express agreement. Obviously the uparrows aren't only for applauding politeness, so it seems reasonable that the downarrows aren't only for booing rudeness.