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downvote abuse has gotten particularly bad and I don't think there's any algorithm to stop downvote spam. It is a long standing issue on HN https://news.ycombi

by f430 6y ago

downvote abuse has gotten particularly bad and I don't think there's any algorithm to stop downvote spam. It is a long standing issue on HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17612885 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17612885 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23997697 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23997697

Jtsummers 6y ago
I'm not convinced there's an actual problem with downvotes on HN. It mostly seems that way when you take a snapshot of a page, but waiting an hour (if the comment section is active and the topic is not controversial), grey comments have a tendency to become un-grey over time unless they fall into a few categories. Maybe someone doing NLP research and sentiment analysis could put together a more thorough analysis, but from what I've seen: Comments that tend to become and remain grey: - Complaints about downvoting (generic complaints like yours, or specific complaints about an instance of downvoting) - Complaints about paywalls - Complaints about the article based only on the first couple of paragraphs - Complaints about article titles - Other, generally off-topic, ranting comments (NB: Many of the above fall under the broader category of "boring and off-topic") Comments that tend to become and remain dead: - Bigoted comments (rare here, but happen, see a discussion earlier where someone suggested non-white people should be gassed) - Highly political comments - Comments consisting mostly of personal insults directed at the previous commenter or article author Discussion topics where, to the extent that it does occur, "downvote abuse" is most apparent: - Anything political - Anything dealing with race/ethnicity/national heritage - Many dealing with US immigration policies (which hits both of the above) - Many on economics, especially where there's no "one true answer" and opinion rules the day (same issue political discussions often have)
- f430 6y ago
  im okay with those but what i dislike is how some people are so jaded that they spam downvotes on all your comments. basically I'm learning there's no algorithm protection against this so I guess I'm not going to play nice either anymore. It's time to dust off all the aged HN accounts I've accumulated over the past few years and it's open season now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm openly declaring my intent to abuse the downvote feature with multiple nicks if Dang isn't going to fix it. The algorithm clearly isn't working to protect against it so I will keep going until they fix it.
  - veddox 6y ago
    If you have an issue with a specific user, take it up with dang. Ultimately, it's not "the algorithm" that makes HN what it is, but the people. Software can enforce minimal rules, but it takes more than that to make a community.
shanemlk 6y ago
"downvote abuse" === "whiny loser community"
- shanemlk 6y ago
  on a site like this, all the best comments are always gray or at the bottom :)

by f430 6y ago

Jtsummers 6y ago

I'm not convinced there's an actual problem with downvotes on HN. It mostly seems that way when you take a snapshot of a page, but waiting an hour (if the comment section is active and the topic is not controversial), grey comments have a tendency to become un-grey over time unless they fall into a few categories. Maybe someone doing NLP research and sentiment analysis could put together a more thorough analysis, but from what I've seen: Comments that tend to become and remain grey: - Complaints about downvoting (generic complaints like yours, or specific complaints about an instance of downvoting) - Complaints about paywalls - Complaints about the article based only on the first couple of paragraphs - Complaints about article titles - Other, generally off-topic, ranting comments (NB: Many of the above fall under the broader category of "boring and off-topic") Comments that tend to become and remain dead: - Bigoted comments (rare here, but happen, see a discussion earlier where someone suggested non-white people should be gassed) - Highly political comments - Comments consisting mostly of personal insults directed at the previous commenter or article author Discussion topics where, to the extent that it does occur, "downvote abuse" is most apparent: - Anything political - Anything dealing with race/ethnicity/national heritage - Many dealing with US immigration policies (which hits both of the above) - Many on economics, especially where there's no "one true answer" and opinion rules the day (same issue political discussions often have)

f430 6y ago
im okay with those but what i dislike is how some people are so jaded that they spam downvotes on all your comments. basically I'm learning there's no algorithm protection against this so I guess I'm not going to play nice either anymore. It's time to dust off all the aged HN accounts I've accumulated over the past few years and it's open season now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm openly declaring my intent to abuse the downvote feature with multiple nicks if Dang isn't going to fix it. The algorithm clearly isn't working to protect against it so I will keep going until they fix it.
- veddox 6y ago
  If you have an issue with a specific user, take it up with dang. Ultimately, it's not "the algorithm" that makes HN what it is, but the people. Software can enforce minimal rules, but it takes more than that to make a community.

shanemlk 6y ago

"downvote abuse" === "whiny loser community"

shanemlk 6y ago
on a site like this, all the best comments are always gray or at the bottom :)