Didn't Slashdot have a system whereby you had to give a reason for a downvote? I may be mis-remembering as I've not been on that site for aeons. But, even then,

Didn't Slashdot have a system whereby you had to give a reason for a downvote? I may be mis-remembering as I've not been on that site for aeons. But, even then, how do you make such a system functional? Say I downvote a well-argued post, simply because I disagree with it, but choose some other 'Reason for Downvote' like 'Irrelevant'or 'Misleading'. to make my downvote seem legitimate. Incidentally, you can also expect someone [most likely DanG himself] to come in and point out to you that discussion of the inner workings of HN is not a valid topic for debate. In its way HN is just as much of an echo-chamber as Twitter, where contrary or unpopular views will get you censured. It's just all done under more of a veneer of reasonableness here.