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why have we started downvoting the comments we don’t like? how does this improve the quality of the discussion? all he said is true, there were children “purcha

by zuppy 6y ago

why have we started downvoting the comments we don’t like? how does this improve the quality of the discussion? all he said is true, there were children “purchased” by families that really wanted them. is this ok? they do have a much better life, most of them at least, but are we ok with buying people just because it’s for the good? i honestly don’t know the answer as i have no data regarding what happened with them afterwards (i really hope they got into good families). and please don’t be a pedant, i am well aware that they had no price tags, but they have been adopted through bribe and political influence.

triyambakam 6y ago
> why have we started downvoting the comments we don’t like? Something about human nature...? there is a downvote button there and it feels empowering (?) and satisfying (?) to see someone you disagree with go grey
RealityVoid 6y ago
> but are we ok with buying people just because it’s for the good? I will tell you my simple answer for this: Yes. If in the end the results are better for humanity as whole, I can tell you, I, personally, am fine with buying people for money and even with other, even LESS moral means. I think we should not let our sense of morality stay in the way of what could improve things. I know it sound horrible, heartless and imoral, but there are plenty of cases along history when taking the moral high ground led to worse outcomes for everyone involved. I will tell you the reason why he's downvoted. His talking points were based on mostly nationalistic sentiment and used as a talking point in the Romanian elections and politics for a LONG time and by a lot of self-interested people. There is a lot of background to the national context here that's hard to explain, but for example, last 2 election cycles, our current president, Klaus Johannis, was being painted by the opposition as a child trafficker because sometime in the 90's assisted with an adoption of a child by a canadian couple. They tried paining him as a child trafficker and promoting obvious lies, such that the children were sold so that they would harvest their organs. Really egregious stuff. They basically fan the flames of the "us, the great Romania" against the "evil and manipulative West that is holding us down" that was planted _very_ deep in the Romania psyche by the communist regime. I assume most downvotes came from Romanians, of witch, I assume, there are many more on HN than one would believe.
oefrha 6y ago
Can't say about "downvoting the comments we don't like", but downvoting for disagreement has always been allowed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16131314 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16131314 As siblings have demonstrated, it's not hard to find something disagreeable in gp, and it's debatable whether "all he said is true" (the general observation about "purchases" is true AFAIK, more specific accusations aren't clear). (I didn't downvote.)
- zuppy 6y ago
  i know it’s allowed, but it has the very important side effect of hiding the opinions that we disagree with. i would keep the downvote for low quality comments, spam... this sort of stuff.

by zuppy 6y ago

triyambakam 6y ago

> why have we started downvoting the comments we don’t like? Something about human nature...? there is a downvote button there and it feels empowering (?) and satisfying (?) to see someone you disagree with go grey

RealityVoid 6y ago

> but are we ok with buying people just because it’s for the good? I will tell you my simple answer for this: Yes. If in the end the results are better for humanity as whole, I can tell you, I, personally, am fine with buying people for money and even with other, even LESS moral means. I think we should not let our sense of morality stay in the way of what could improve things. I know it sound horrible, heartless and imoral, but there are plenty of cases along history when taking the moral high ground led to worse outcomes for everyone involved. I will tell you the reason why he's downvoted. His talking points were based on mostly nationalistic sentiment and used as a talking point in the Romanian elections and politics for a LONG time and by a lot of self-interested people. There is a lot of background to the national context here that's hard to explain, but for example, last 2 election cycles, our current president, Klaus Johannis, was being painted by the opposition as a child trafficker because sometime in the 90's assisted with an adoption of a child by a canadian couple. They tried paining him as a child trafficker and promoting obvious lies, such that the children were sold so that they would harvest their organs. Really egregious stuff. They basically fan the flames of the "us, the great Romania" against the "evil and manipulative West that is holding us down" that was planted _very_ deep in the Romania psyche by the communist regime. I assume most downvotes came from Romanians, of witch, I assume, there are many more on HN than one would believe.

oefrha 6y ago

Can't say about "downvoting the comments we don't like", but downvoting for disagreement has always been allowed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16131314 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16131314 As siblings have demonstrated, it's not hard to find something disagreeable in gp, and it's debatable whether "all he said is true" (the general observation about "purchases" is true AFAIK, more specific accusations aren't clear). (I didn't downvote.)

zuppy 6y ago
i know it’s allowed, but it has the very important side effect of hiding the opinions that we disagree with. i would keep the downvote for low quality comments, spam... this sort of stuff.