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Start with the assumption all comments are wrong; after all there's no absolute truth. The scores are a measure of popularity, which is often right and sometime

Start with the assumption all comments are wrong; after all there's no absolute truth. The scores are a measure of popularity, which is often right and sometimes wrong. Plus everyone is entitled to an opinion. I don't think scores help anything, it's a measure of someones self-righteousness that i 'd rather not have. It's enough that unpopular opinions float to the bottom, where they belong. If anything i'd suggest that comment scores should also have minimal impact in karma, except for questions, where an answer is a valuable contribution. Otherwise, everyone's entitled to an opinion.

munchhausen 16y ago
Starting with an assumption that all comments are wrong is a prudent approach, which also considerably lowers the utility of HN for certain types of usage. I read HN primarily for the informative comments, not the opinion pieces. A high comment score on an informative comment that contains a factual statement is a relatively good way how to easily tell that the information has been validated by the community and is likely to be correct.
bruce511 16y ago
>> It's enough that unpopular opinions float to the bottom, where they belong. Unpopular opinions are exactly what make the conversation interesting. While not every unpopular opinion is necessarily valid, it's fair to say that on many occasions the "unpopular" viewpoint is both valid, and often correct. But regardless of the correctness of the opinion, it is the unpopular viewpoint which makes us stop, think about, and then articulate our own viewpoint. Now wouldn't it be ironical if this very comment is deemed unpopular?
- ignifero 16y ago
  Unpopular opinions more often than not are valid and uncomfortable truths, so they're likely to attract trolls and personal attacks. It's best to keep them down there, for those who are interested enough to browse all the threads.

munchhausen 16y ago

Starting with an assumption that all comments are wrong is a prudent approach, which also considerably lowers the utility of HN for certain types of usage. I read HN primarily for the informative comments, not the opinion pieces. A high comment score on an informative comment that contains a factual statement is a relatively good way how to easily tell that the information has been validated by the community and is likely to be correct.

bruce511 16y ago

>> It's enough that unpopular opinions float to the bottom, where they belong. Unpopular opinions are exactly what make the conversation interesting. While not every unpopular opinion is necessarily valid, it's fair to say that on many occasions the "unpopular" viewpoint is both valid, and often correct. But regardless of the correctness of the opinion, it is the unpopular viewpoint which makes us stop, think about, and then articulate our own viewpoint. Now wouldn't it be ironical if this very comment is deemed unpopular?

ignifero 16y ago
Unpopular opinions more often than not are valid and uncomfortable truths, so they're likely to attract trolls and personal attacks. It's best to keep them down there, for those who are interested enough to browse all the threads.