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Does it really matter? There are people on the Internet. People disagree with each other. Someone disagreed with you. Maybe they were just downvoting everything

Does it really matter? There are people on the Internet. People disagree with each other. Someone disagreed with you. Maybe they were just downvoting everything for fun. Who knows? Who cares? Because you got a downvote, you make a statement that HN is going to hell. Honestly, I do not know how much more of an overreaction you could have crafted here.

ColinWright 15y ago
> People disagree with each other Yes, and once upon a time people here on HN used either to respect that disagreement, or would discuss it. They used not to downvote for simple disagreement. That's part of the change. > Maybe they were just downvoting everything for fun. Which again makes my point - you can do that in a city and get away with it, you can't do it in a village. > Because you got a downvote, you make a statement > that HN is going to hell. Do you really think I've said this on the basis of a single downvote? It's a trend I'm seeing. Sadly the boiled frog allegory is a myth, but using the analogy anyway, I think I can see the temperature rising here on HN, and it's respect, quality discussion and value that's being boiled out. I might easily be wrong and I might jut be remembering with advantages how HN was 2 and 3 years ago, but if I'm right, now's the time to start looking for a new place to have thought-provoking conversation with intelligent and knowledgeable people.
- mquander 15y ago
  I wish we would leave the angry off-topic meta rants for the (frequent) meta threads. I don't think that the occasion of a single downvote requires a big immediate derail. I would personally find that to be a small improvement to what quality discussion and value is present here.
  - ColinWright 15y ago
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" -- Edmund Burke (disputed - see http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote.html http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote.html and http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote2.html http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote2.html for in-depth discussion) Even PG is concerned that HN is declining - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696 - so it's not just me. But clearly concern for the community is irrelevant and regarded as off-topic, so I'll stop now.
    - Robin_Message 15y ago
      I mean no disrespect and don't wish to rag on you unfairly, especially as your top-level post made a valid point and had a helpful link to prior discussion. You are obviously a long-term user and contributor, and often provide useful links to past discussion, which is very helpful. So, the downvotes: your original comment could have been interpreted as sarcastic, which might be why it was downvoted. Worth noting that overall it was positively received, who knows, maybe someone just slipped on their iPhone? Your other comments have two problems. Your tone is somewhat passive-aggressive, for example: "triumph of evil [that is, comment quality may be getting worse]", "clearly concern for the community is irrelevant", "community is gone, and HN is something else", "respect, quality discussion and value that's being boiled out" Coupled this with the unfortunate fact that I (and presumably other people) also recognise your username for often complaining that HN is getting worse. That is probably why your meta posts are getting downvoted: you have made your point before, and unless you have something new to say, that makes it noise and the community norms are to downvote noise.
      - ColinWright 15y ago
        Thank you for your considered and informative reply. I composed a much longer reply, but it's probably jsut going to be regarded as noise, so I'll leave it at that.

ColinWright 15y ago

> People disagree with each other Yes, and once upon a time people here on HN used either to respect that disagreement, or would discuss it. They used not to downvote for simple disagreement. That's part of the change. > Maybe they were just downvoting everything for fun. Which again makes my point - you can do that in a city and get away with it, you can't do it in a village. > Because you got a downvote, you make a statement > that HN is going to hell. Do you really think I've said this on the basis of a single downvote? It's a trend I'm seeing. Sadly the boiled frog allegory is a myth, but using the analogy anyway, I think I can see the temperature rising here on HN, and it's respect, quality discussion and value that's being boiled out. I might easily be wrong and I might jut be remembering with advantages how HN was 2 and 3 years ago, but if I'm right, now's the time to start looking for a new place to have thought-provoking conversation with intelligent and knowledgeable people.

mquander 15y ago
I wish we would leave the angry off-topic meta rants for the (frequent) meta threads. I don't think that the occasion of a single downvote requires a big immediate derail. I would personally find that to be a small improvement to what quality discussion and value is present here.
- ColinWright 15y ago
  "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" -- Edmund Burke (disputed - see http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote.html http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote.html and http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote2.html http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote2.html for in-depth discussion) Even PG is concerned that HN is declining - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696 - so it's not just me. But clearly concern for the community is irrelevant and regarded as off-topic, so I'll stop now.
  - Robin_Message 15y ago
    I mean no disrespect and don't wish to rag on you unfairly, especially as your top-level post made a valid point and had a helpful link to prior discussion. You are obviously a long-term user and contributor, and often provide useful links to past discussion, which is very helpful. So, the downvotes: your original comment could have been interpreted as sarcastic, which might be why it was downvoted. Worth noting that overall it was positively received, who knows, maybe someone just slipped on their iPhone? Your other comments have two problems. Your tone is somewhat passive-aggressive, for example: "triumph of evil [that is, comment quality may be getting worse]", "clearly concern for the community is irrelevant", "community is gone, and HN is something else", "respect, quality discussion and value that's being boiled out" Coupled this with the unfortunate fact that I (and presumably other people) also recognise your username for often complaining that HN is getting worse. That is probably why your meta posts are getting downvoted: you have made your point before, and unless you have something new to say, that makes it noise and the community norms are to downvote noise.
    - ColinWright 15y ago
      Thank you for your considered and informative reply. I composed a much longer reply, but it's probably jsut going to be regarded as noise, so I'll leave it at that.