7 ms·

Ask HN: comment downvote sniping

12 points by kls 15y ago

Has anyone ever experienced their comments being down-voted in a systematic fashion. I just checked my threads link to look to see if anyone has responded to any of my comments and responses to comments, when I noticed that a bunch of my post's have been down-voted for no apparent reason. They are not controversial posts at all, and most of them are just friendly advice. Has anyone else had this happen to them? I am not really worried about the karma but it's a pretty uncool thing to do to someone who tries hard to contribute to the forum, if it is indeed someone sniping comments of people that they disagree with. Just thought I would see if it is happening to other people because this is the second time I have noticed the pattern on my comments.

lucisferre 15y ago
I've seen this is a problem on Reddit, though I've never really noticed it myself. Someone decides the dislike or disagree with you enough, or perhaps they were just pissed off with the way you responded to them and they go through your history down-voting everything they can. I'm just curious can you even down/up-vote old comments. Seems like they should lock after a few days to prevent this sort of behaviour.
- kls 15y ago
  To my knowledge comments do not lock, I know that I can go back several pages in my history and upvote responses to my comments. You cannot downvote responses to your comment's so I don't know if downvote get's disables at a certain point. Edit: According to brudgers comment downvoting does lock after a few days. He has a comment below on it.
  - kls 15y ago
    For those seeing this thread for the first time, the above comment was down-voted shortly after I posted it, another HN member must have up-voted and I think that is testament to the great nature of HN. But I request that if anyone sees my comments down-voted either in this thread or in my history please do not up-vote them. I did not post this to rectify my karma, but rather I am genuinely interested in finding out if this is an issue or if I have somehow become trapped in some kind of automatic down-vote mechanism (Though that would not explain post from several days ago all of the sudden dropping to 0) but I am more interested in finding out if this is a real issue (comment sniping) than I am about a few points of Karma. In saying that I do appreciate the effort to help.
    - tstegart 15y ago
      Karma does not get rectified, it gets balanced. So don't worry. If there is someone down-voting your comments out of spite, karma will get them, and you will find joy and unexpected abundance when you least expect it.
      - deleted 15y ago
        [deleted]
      - samstave 15y ago
        This should be printed on a piece of paper and put into a baked pastry.
  - brudgers 15y ago
    Downvotes are locked out after several days. I've noticed that replies appear to out lock after a longer time based on the chaos which sometimes appears on the "Ask" page when I've gone to a 1200 day old story.
  - Forrest7778 15y ago
    That would be interesting and troublesome at some intersects - because there are posts that are brought back up after a long period of time - maybe there should be a limit on the number of posts you can downvote within a period of time if they belong to the same person?
brudgers 15y ago
Though sometimes downvotes are used to express disagreement, downvotes should be considered editorial feedback - either you didn't make your point clearly, or your comment is considered likely to derail the discussion. Use the "edit" and "delete" links, respectively if you are concerned about the karma score of a particular comment. It is bad form on HN to complain about downvotes.
- kls 15y ago
  I did not think I was complaining about them, I just noticed that several of them drooped to 0 all at once. This has happened to me twice so it seemed like their may have been a pattern which is why I asked if other people had experienced it. It does not usually happen to my comments so it was out of the norm, especially given that some conversations have seen no action in the past few days. It could very well be coincidental, which is why I asked. If it conveyed as me complaining about being down-voted then I apologize it was not my intent.
  - brudgers 15y ago
    Going to zero is always more likely with one point comments than with those deemed worthy of an upvote.
    - kls 15y ago
      Sure but I had 5 or 6 of them drop in the course of a few seconds. If I posted them in a row then I would assume that I am just having a bad day and not contributing value. But these are spread out among post that have died off, which seemed strange to me, many have sat for a few days with no activity and then they all dropped in a short period of time. It very well could be coincidence I don't rule that out. Which is why I asked if other people have seen the pattern.
- samstave 15y ago
  I think downvoting without commenting as to why is far more bad form than even complaining about downvotes.
anamax 15y ago
> They are not controversial posts at all, and most of them are just friendly advice. Has anyone else had this happen to them? If you think that this is dick behavior, why do you care?
- kls 15y ago
  It is more of a curiosity as to whether this happens on HN. There is a cultural norm on HN that I believe goes against such behavior, so I was curious if it is actually happening, given that this is the second time I have seen this pattern. That being said, if it was truly happening and became widespread, I would consider leaving HN, which is why I am so concerned about it. One of the reasons I came to HN was the reduced amount of such activity. Please don't take that as a threat to take my ball and go home, it is not meant as that, rather I am just stating my values in a online community, and I would take that as a signal that much of that value has died. Given the value that HN has been I would hate to see such.
  - anamax 15y ago
    > That being said, if it was truly happening and became widespread, I would consider leaving HN, which is why I am so concerned about it. Why? Karma points are meaningless. Suppose that you thought that a lot of BMW drivers were jerks. Would that affect your decision to buy a BMW?
    - kls 15y ago
      It is not the points, rather it may be an indicator of a trend among the demographic of individuals. For example say I participated in a car club, where all members where experts at vehicle technology and then over time said BMW jerks took over more and more, the information would start to reflect their preference (BMW tech) and thought process and at some point there will be a event horizon where it seems like all car club members are jerks and all information was being presented by jerks who think so little of opposing viewpoint that they would disable your car, for something as petty as making a point that maybe a particular Mercedes technology is superior. I personally don't like information that is biased by ego. I am not saying that HN is close to that, but it was not long ago that the thought of someone systematically down-voting another member in HN would be unheard-of. My point was not that I am on the cusp of leaving but rather I share the concern that with HN's growth we have to be aware of possible decline in quality and discuss ways to ensure the quality that HN provides.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
adrianwaj 15y ago
I wonder if data is kept to check who is downvoting what. Then pg could tell you.

12 points by kls 15y ago

lucisferre 15y ago

I've seen this is a problem on Reddit, though I've never really noticed it myself. Someone decides the dislike or disagree with you enough, or perhaps they were just pissed off with the way you responded to them and they go through your history down-voting everything they can. I'm just curious can you even down/up-vote old comments. Seems like they should lock after a few days to prevent this sort of behaviour.

kls 15y ago
To my knowledge comments do not lock, I know that I can go back several pages in my history and upvote responses to my comments. You cannot downvote responses to your comment's so I don't know if downvote get's disables at a certain point. Edit: According to brudgers comment downvoting does lock after a few days. He has a comment below on it.
- kls 15y ago
  For those seeing this thread for the first time, the above comment was down-voted shortly after I posted it, another HN member must have up-voted and I think that is testament to the great nature of HN. But I request that if anyone sees my comments down-voted either in this thread or in my history please do not up-vote them. I did not post this to rectify my karma, but rather I am genuinely interested in finding out if this is an issue or if I have somehow become trapped in some kind of automatic down-vote mechanism (Though that would not explain post from several days ago all of the sudden dropping to 0) but I am more interested in finding out if this is a real issue (comment sniping) than I am about a few points of Karma. In saying that I do appreciate the effort to help.
  - tstegart 15y ago
    Karma does not get rectified, it gets balanced. So don't worry. If there is someone down-voting your comments out of spite, karma will get them, and you will find joy and unexpected abundance when you least expect it.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
    - samstave 15y ago
      This should be printed on a piece of paper and put into a baked pastry.
- brudgers 15y ago
  Downvotes are locked out after several days. I've noticed that replies appear to out lock after a longer time based on the chaos which sometimes appears on the "Ask" page when I've gone to a 1200 day old story.
- Forrest7778 15y ago
  That would be interesting and troublesome at some intersects - because there are posts that are brought back up after a long period of time - maybe there should be a limit on the number of posts you can downvote within a period of time if they belong to the same person?

brudgers 15y ago

Though sometimes downvotes are used to express disagreement, downvotes should be considered editorial feedback - either you didn't make your point clearly, or your comment is considered likely to derail the discussion. Use the "edit" and "delete" links, respectively if you are concerned about the karma score of a particular comment. It is bad form on HN to complain about downvotes.

kls 15y ago
I did not think I was complaining about them, I just noticed that several of them drooped to 0 all at once. This has happened to me twice so it seemed like their may have been a pattern which is why I asked if other people had experienced it. It does not usually happen to my comments so it was out of the norm, especially given that some conversations have seen no action in the past few days. It could very well be coincidental, which is why I asked. If it conveyed as me complaining about being down-voted then I apologize it was not my intent.
- brudgers 15y ago
  Going to zero is always more likely with one point comments than with those deemed worthy of an upvote.
  - kls 15y ago
    Sure but I had 5 or 6 of them drop in the course of a few seconds. If I posted them in a row then I would assume that I am just having a bad day and not contributing value. But these are spread out among post that have died off, which seemed strange to me, many have sat for a few days with no activity and then they all dropped in a short period of time. It very well could be coincidence I don't rule that out. Which is why I asked if other people have seen the pattern.
samstave 15y ago
I think downvoting without commenting as to why is far more bad form than even complaining about downvotes.

anamax 15y ago

> They are not controversial posts at all, and most of them are just friendly advice. Has anyone else had this happen to them? If you think that this is dick behavior, why do you care?

kls 15y ago
It is more of a curiosity as to whether this happens on HN. There is a cultural norm on HN that I believe goes against such behavior, so I was curious if it is actually happening, given that this is the second time I have seen this pattern. That being said, if it was truly happening and became widespread, I would consider leaving HN, which is why I am so concerned about it. One of the reasons I came to HN was the reduced amount of such activity. Please don't take that as a threat to take my ball and go home, it is not meant as that, rather I am just stating my values in a online community, and I would take that as a signal that much of that value has died. Given the value that HN has been I would hate to see such.
- anamax 15y ago
  > That being said, if it was truly happening and became widespread, I would consider leaving HN, which is why I am so concerned about it. Why? Karma points are meaningless. Suppose that you thought that a lot of BMW drivers were jerks. Would that affect your decision to buy a BMW?
  - kls 15y ago
    It is not the points, rather it may be an indicator of a trend among the demographic of individuals. For example say I participated in a car club, where all members where experts at vehicle technology and then over time said BMW jerks took over more and more, the information would start to reflect their preference (BMW tech) and thought process and at some point there will be a event horizon where it seems like all car club members are jerks and all information was being presented by jerks who think so little of opposing viewpoint that they would disable your car, for something as petty as making a point that maybe a particular Mercedes technology is superior. I personally don't like information that is biased by ego. I am not saying that HN is close to that, but it was not long ago that the thought of someone systematically down-voting another member in HN would be unheard-of. My point was not that I am on the cusp of leaving but rather I share the concern that with HN's growth we have to be aware of possible decline in quality and discuss ways to ensure the quality that HN provides.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

adrianwaj 15y ago

I wonder if data is kept to check who is downvoting what. Then pg could tell you.