4 ms·

* a rough measure of whether the HN community agrees with you or not.* It shouldn't be. Like you said, upvoting!=agreeing. It should be a rough measure of you

by JCB_K 15y ago

* a rough measure of whether the HN community agrees with you or not.* It shouldn't be. Like you said, upvoting!=agreeing. It should be a rough measure of you making your point in a good way.

ugh 15y ago
I think there is a problem with the “upvote doesn’t imply agreement” dictum. It doesn’t make all that much sense to me, at least not in all situations. I can imagine an eloquent, well written movie review with which I don’t agree but which I think is so well written that it should be read by more people. That’s taste and you should certainly not downvote taste, but most discussions on HN are not about taste but rather about questions with right and wrong answers. When I’m disagreeing with someone about those I must be thinking that what the person writes is based on wrong facts or is illogical. Should users be encouraged to upvote eloquent and well written comments even if they think those comments are spreading false information and are illogical? (Whether or not such comments should be downvoted is a different question. I tend not to.) It’s never quite that clear cut in the real world. You might feel that the facts are wrong or that some illogical argument is hiding somewhere in the comment but you might not be sure about it. Upvoting may be the right thing to do, then – the comment can be seen by a wider audience and it can come under more scrutiny. The comment and its analysis can help all parties to get closer to the truth. There is no doubt to me that there are situations in which upvoting despite disagreement can be a good idea. I also think that upvoting because of agreement and not upvoting because of disagreement can be a good idea. On a certain level, agreement and “making your point in a good way” are one and the same. No matter how eloquent, how can a comment with factual errors that undermine its central thesis ever be an example of “making your point in a good way”?
alain94040 15y ago
ugh has a very good definition of what a high vote count means: the comment is a must read. It doesn't mean everyone agrees, but it's a key point in the overall discussion. You took away such an important buoy for us to navigate HN!

by JCB_K 15y ago

* a rough measure of whether the HN community agrees with you or not.* It shouldn't be. Like you said, upvoting!=agreeing. It should be a rough measure of you making your point in a good way.

ugh 15y ago

I think there is a problem with the “upvote doesn’t imply agreement” dictum. It doesn’t make all that much sense to me, at least not in all situations. I can imagine an eloquent, well written movie review with which I don’t agree but which I think is so well written that it should be read by more people. That’s taste and you should certainly not downvote taste, but most discussions on HN are not about taste but rather about questions with right and wrong answers. When I’m disagreeing with someone about those I must be thinking that what the person writes is based on wrong facts or is illogical. Should users be encouraged to upvote eloquent and well written comments even if they think those comments are spreading false information and are illogical? (Whether or not such comments should be downvoted is a different question. I tend not to.) It’s never quite that clear cut in the real world. You might feel that the facts are wrong or that some illogical argument is hiding somewhere in the comment but you might not be sure about it. Upvoting may be the right thing to do, then – the comment can be seen by a wider audience and it can come under more scrutiny. The comment and its analysis can help all parties to get closer to the truth. There is no doubt to me that there are situations in which upvoting despite disagreement can be a good idea. I also think that upvoting because of agreement and not upvoting because of disagreement can be a good idea. On a certain level, agreement and “making your point in a good way” are one and the same. No matter how eloquent, how can a comment with factual errors that undermine its central thesis ever be an example of “making your point in a good way”?

alain94040 15y ago

ugh has a very good definition of what a high vote count means: the comment is a must read. It doesn't mean everyone agrees, but it's a key point in the overall discussion. You took away such an important buoy for us to navigate HN!