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I'm not here to change your mind. I'm here to show other people that I and many others disagree with your opinion. Downvoting for disagreement is fine, as state

by Kiro 4y ago

I'm not here to change your mind. I'm here to show other people that I and many others disagree with your opinion. Downvoting for disagreement is fine, as stated by pg himself: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171

Kim_Bruning 4y ago
There are also people on that page who disagree with pg. Downmodding tends to make people disengage. That may be undesirable if you want a healthy debate.
- ssl232 4y ago
  Correct, I rarely bother to start debates on topics I know will be controversial here any more. This one being an exception I now slightly regret. HN used to be able to debate without emotion but in the past few years it's more or less disappeared. I am still open to having my mind changed but we rarely get far enough before the downvote brigade find these threads.
  - Kiro 4y ago
    The comment I linked is from 2008. This is nothing new. You also might want to have a look at the guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills. > Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, bots, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data.
    - Kim_Bruning 4y ago
      Did you mean to quote: "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. " And I typically agree with that, except in this instance I decided to make a brief comment, because I disagreed with you somewhat strongly. There's nothing in the actual guidelines about downvoting for disagreement; though the balance of the HN guidelines seem to be in favor of commenting in reply to a thoughtful comment. "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. " ... and ... "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something. " What can be less thoughtful, substantive, or deep than a naked downvote?

by Kiro 4y ago

Kim_Bruning 4y ago

There are also people on that page who disagree with pg. Downmodding tends to make people disengage. That may be undesirable if you want a healthy debate.

ssl232 4y ago
Correct, I rarely bother to start debates on topics I know will be controversial here any more. This one being an exception I now slightly regret. HN used to be able to debate without emotion but in the past few years it's more or less disappeared. I am still open to having my mind changed but we rarely get far enough before the downvote brigade find these threads.
- Kiro 4y ago
  The comment I linked is from 2008. This is nothing new. You also might want to have a look at the guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills. > Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, bots, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data.
  - Kim_Bruning 4y ago
    Did you mean to quote: "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. " And I typically agree with that, except in this instance I decided to make a brief comment, because I disagreed with you somewhat strongly. There's nothing in the actual guidelines about downvoting for disagreement; though the balance of the HN guidelines seem to be in favor of commenting in reply to a thoughtful comment. "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. " ... and ... "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something. " What can be less thoughtful, substantive, or deep than a naked downvote?