I wasn't meaning to say that your efforts at freezing out conversation about the downvote are having that effect. I'm saying that's the effect of the (current)

I wasn't meaning to say that your efforts at freezing out conversation about the downvote are having that effect. I'm saying that's the effect of the (current) downvoting mechanic itself. What you're trying to freeze out is people expressing, however indirectly, a legitimate concern about the social environment being created by the current mechanics of the site. In other words, I think you're being a bit too quick to the trigger to dismiss these sorts of comments as just being boring conversation. My impression is that they're actually a rather banal tip to a much more consequential iceberg. You can't see the rest of it because it concerns things that are mostly happening out of view, out in meatspace, and typically only manifest themselves indirectly in what's happening on Hacker News. Especially if you're trying to "freeze out" the more direct manifestations.