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Downvoting is a form of free speech too. You have the freedom to say what you like, but there’s no obligation on anyone else to listen to it or like it, or publ
by simonh 5y ago
Downvoting is a form of free speech too. You have the freedom to say what you like, but there’s no obligation on anyone else to listen to it or like it, or publish and distribute it.
- jetrink 5y agoHowever, in any community where the down vote is used for mere disagreement, there is no room for dissenting opinions. An open discourse requires that people are willing to listen to those whom they disagree with. Down voting liberally is counter to that principle.
- 6foot4_82iq 5y agoVile racists like jacobsenscott are undeserving of nuanced discussion.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- dv_dt 5y agoI disagree. Downvoting for disagreement is a way of saving time in the discussion from reading lower value comments. To much low value content can mask more thoughtful discussion.
- jetrink 5y agoJust because I don't agree with someone's perspective, doesn't inherently make it low value or not thoughtful. I find I often learn much from people I disagree with, even if their argument didn't change my mind.
- dv_dt 5y agoNo the disagreement doesn’t make it inherently make it low value, and I personally don’t downvote purely for disagreement, but for disagreement with argument methods wether I agree with the positions or not.
- krapp 5y agoPeople forget that Hacker News is explicitly not a forum for free speech or open discourse. It's a forum for curated speech, sometimes aggressively curated, preferring fewer comments of higher quality over more comments of lower quality, even at the cost of open discourse. It gets on my nerves too but that's Chinatown, as it were.
- tpmx 5y agoYou're conflating downvoting with flagging. Enough flagging + default reader settings on HN = distributed ability to censor HN stories/comments. Of course this is all by design - the moderators have been clear that they're not optimizing for freedom of speech, but rather interesting discussions.
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoAnd that's their right. Freedom of speech is not a requirement for a platform, it mainly means you won't be arrested and punished for things you say. And if you do, that's where the ACLU steps in.