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Down voting is a way of expressing disagreement. Nothing anti libertarian about that.

by rascul 4y ago

rpdillon 4y ago
I tend libertarian sometimes. Downvoting on HN reduces the readability of the post, so if I downvoted posts I disagreed with, it would be to reduce the influence of people that disagree with me. I'm not very comfortable with that, to be honest. I have opinions, but they can't all be correct, so reducing the ability of the community to read posts that contradict my own seems counter-productive, and imposes the will of the collective (through voting) on the individual by reducing the reach of their speech. I feel this is somewhat anti-libertarian. Because of this, I reserve downvotes not for disagreement, but when I think someone is making an argument in bad faith, particularly if it's bullshit. In particular, some posts on HN make bold, unsubstantiated claims and tend to put the onus on the community to debunk those claims. I downvote those posts when I sense the "bullshit asymmetry principle"[0], in action because it's a tax on folks that post thoughtful comments for the benefit or amusement of the bullshitter. The link has more context, but the idea can be summarized simply: > ...the “bullshit asymmetry principle,” holds that "the amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than what’s needed to produce it.” [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit#Education_and_reasoning_as_immunization_against_bullshit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit#Education_and_reasoni...
- rascul 4y ago
  I'm not actually silencing anyone by down voting, but if enough people down vote then it does make it slightly harder to see the post. Of course, if you don't have showdead enabled in your profile, you don't get to see those posts. I'm not opposed to collective actions in a venue designed for it, such as this one. When I make a comment I am aware that it might be down voted to oblivion, and that's something I accept. I'm free to disassociate myself with Hacker News if I don't like it.

Down voting is a way of expressing disagreement. Nothing anti libertarian about that.

by rascul 4y ago

Down voting is a way of expressing disagreement. Nothing anti libertarian about that.

I tend libertarian sometimes. Downvoting on HN reduces the readability of the post, so if I downvoted posts I disagreed with, it would be to reduce the influence of people that disagree with me. I'm not very comfortable with that, to be honest. I have opinions, but they can't all be correct, so reducing the ability of the community to read posts that contradict my own seems counter-productive, and imposes the will of the collective (through voting) on the individual by reducing the reach of their speech. I feel this is somewhat anti-libertarian. Because of this, I reserve downvotes not for disagreement, but when I think someone is making an argument in bad faith, particularly if it's bullshit. In particular, some posts on HN make bold, unsubstantiated claims and tend to put the onus on the community to debunk those claims. I downvote those posts when I sense the "bullshit asymmetry principle"[0], in action because it's a tax on folks that post thoughtful comments for the benefit or amusement of the bullshitter. The link has more context, but the idea can be summarized simply: > ...the “bullshit asymmetry principle,” holds that "the amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than what’s needed to produce it.” [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit#Education_and_reasoning_as_immunization_against_bullshit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit#Education_and_reasoni...

rascul 4y ago
I'm not actually silencing anyone by down voting, but if enough people down vote then it does make it slightly harder to see the post. Of course, if you don't have showdead enabled in your profile, you don't get to see those posts. I'm not opposed to collective actions in a venue designed for it, such as this one. When I make a comment I am aware that it might be down voted to oblivion, and that's something I accept. I'm free to disassociate myself with Hacker News if I don't like it.