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I miss the slashdot Insightful/Informative/Funny/etc dropdown that was required to vote. It would add a lot of value to the downvote button and the "I disagree

I miss the slashdot Insightful/Informative/Funny/etc dropdown that was required to vote. It would add a lot of value to the downvote button and the "I disagree" option could silently not apply any modifier to prevent groupthink.

pelliphant 6y ago
While I mostly agree, there needs to be some function to filter out trolls and lies. But I do agree that simply disagreeing with someone shouldn't work the same way.
- CoolGuySteve 6y ago
  Yes, the Slashdot options for downvotes are: Offtopic, Flamebait, Troll, Redundant If it were up to me, and aside from the neutral "I disagree", I'd add one for "Factually incorrect" because that's pretty much the only time I downvote on HN. I notice that often comment blocks will have a confidently incorrect technical post at the top of the discussion followed by a gish gallop of derailed technical debate.
sumtechguy 6y ago
Soylent added several extra levels. But they then added in more points per day. What ended up happening is the same that happened on slashdot. Everything is either +5 or -1 on a conversation that is only a few hours old. Early items dominate the conversation. Late ones get no interaction. Things that are like a 2-3 are bumped out to +5. Things that are 0-1 get knocked down to -1. Even then it depends on the group you get into the conversation and who posted earliest.
- CoolGuySteve 6y ago
  My slashdot id is in the low 6 digits and everything you said was true 13 years ago. I suspect all online discussions are a Pareto distribution in terms of votes and visibility regardless of moderation tactics. I think the aggressive comment folding also aggravated the lack of interaction. There was no point in replying to a discussion more than 2 levels deep, nobody would see it.
  - sumtechguy 6y ago
    That and everything falling off the first page. If you ended up on the second page forget it.

pelliphant 6y ago

While I mostly agree, there needs to be some function to filter out trolls and lies. But I do agree that simply disagreeing with someone shouldn't work the same way.

CoolGuySteve 6y ago
Yes, the Slashdot options for downvotes are: Offtopic, Flamebait, Troll, Redundant If it were up to me, and aside from the neutral "I disagree", I'd add one for "Factually incorrect" because that's pretty much the only time I downvote on HN. I notice that often comment blocks will have a confidently incorrect technical post at the top of the discussion followed by a gish gallop of derailed technical debate.

sumtechguy 6y ago

Soylent added several extra levels. But they then added in more points per day. What ended up happening is the same that happened on slashdot. Everything is either +5 or -1 on a conversation that is only a few hours old. Early items dominate the conversation. Late ones get no interaction. Things that are like a 2-3 are bumped out to +5. Things that are 0-1 get knocked down to -1. Even then it depends on the group you get into the conversation and who posted earliest.

CoolGuySteve 6y ago
My slashdot id is in the low 6 digits and everything you said was true 13 years ago. I suspect all online discussions are a Pareto distribution in terms of votes and visibility regardless of moderation tactics. I think the aggressive comment folding also aggravated the lack of interaction. There was no point in replying to a discussion more than 2 levels deep, nobody would see it.
- sumtechguy 6y ago
  That and everything falling off the first page. If you ended up on the second page forget it.