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A month ago I responded to a similar comment of yours[1] pointing out that people were downvoting you for being insulting, not because they disagreed with you.

A month ago I responded to a similar comment of yours[1] pointing out that people were downvoting you for being insulting, not because they disagreed with you. Glancing at your comment history it seems like you are still regularly very aggressive and insulting to the people you engage with. I think you're mistaking ideology for culture. Lots of people here are aligned with you ideologically. But the culture here is to discourage people from being rude and insulting through the use of downvotes and flags. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36982152 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36982152

godelski 3y ago
I'll second this. I downvoted the comment not because of a strong disagreement to its main thesis, but rather the aggressiveness and that it brings oversimplification to the matter rather than incorporating more nuance in the discussion. I just detest those that lump everything together as if we can compartmentalize things into neat little boxes rather than acknowledging the messiness and complexity that is the world we live in. I often downvote people I agree with who similarly oversimplify. Interestingly this can sometimes lead to fights as any response is often taken as opposition. But I similarly often upvote points I disagree with, when I find the arguments are good and bring up points I was missing. These actually tend to turn into the best conversations and are a main part of what keeps me coming to this website. People vote for many different reasons. A vote is an aggregate of many different metrics. It's likely unsurprising that this leads to misinterpretation of the metric.
- ahahahahah 3y ago
  > that it brings oversimplification to the matter rather than incorporating more nuance in the discussion Do you then also downvote all the insipid claims of HN superiority that, at best, have similar oversimplification?
  - godelski 3y ago
    Frequently, yes, but I'm only one man. I'm not scrolling through every comment looking for these because I'm not hyper obsessed. And I can never downvote replies to my own comments even if they are attempting to make lazy "gotchas" checking for inconsistency that are so common of humans, realistically only looking to validate their own predisposition rather than recognizing that the expectation placed on the question is exceptionally high and nearly impossible unless properly contextualized. Those aren't really adding to conversations so much as they are masturbation. Frankly, I don't enjoy when people masturbate in public. But yeah, when I see them, I do just downvote and move on. Sometimes comment. Depends on my mood ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ahahahahah 3y ago
The parent's comment certainly wasn't really insulting. Like is the HN community so fragile that it needs to downvote that mild criticism rather than engage with it?
- maxbond 3y ago
  > Unfortunately taking away internet points from the terminally online is akin to making an addict go cold turkey. It wouldn't end well. I found the insinuation that the HN community are overly-online and addicted to upvotes to be pretty insulting yeah. Could HN survive a comment like this? Certainly. Could HN survive if comments like this were left unchecked? Something would probably survive, but it wouldn't be the HN I'm willing to be a part of. I've been in my share of communities like that, and I'm done with them. HN certainly isn't perfect and criticism is warranted. Sometimes I email dang to complain about eg comments not being deletable. But I don't think this criticism is on the mark; they're making a bunch of provocative and insulting comments and also stating that they don't see thoughtful conversation here, and my personal opinion is that these things are related.

godelski 3y ago

I'll second this. I downvoted the comment not because of a strong disagreement to its main thesis, but rather the aggressiveness and that it brings oversimplification to the matter rather than incorporating more nuance in the discussion. I just detest those that lump everything together as if we can compartmentalize things into neat little boxes rather than acknowledging the messiness and complexity that is the world we live in. I often downvote people I agree with who similarly oversimplify. Interestingly this can sometimes lead to fights as any response is often taken as opposition. But I similarly often upvote points I disagree with, when I find the arguments are good and bring up points I was missing. These actually tend to turn into the best conversations and are a main part of what keeps me coming to this website. People vote for many different reasons. A vote is an aggregate of many different metrics. It's likely unsurprising that this leads to misinterpretation of the metric.

ahahahahah 3y ago
> that it brings oversimplification to the matter rather than incorporating more nuance in the discussion Do you then also downvote all the insipid claims of HN superiority that, at best, have similar oversimplification?
- godelski 3y ago
  Frequently, yes, but I'm only one man. I'm not scrolling through every comment looking for these because I'm not hyper obsessed. And I can never downvote replies to my own comments even if they are attempting to make lazy "gotchas" checking for inconsistency that are so common of humans, realistically only looking to validate their own predisposition rather than recognizing that the expectation placed on the question is exceptionally high and nearly impossible unless properly contextualized. Those aren't really adding to conversations so much as they are masturbation. Frankly, I don't enjoy when people masturbate in public. But yeah, when I see them, I do just downvote and move on. Sometimes comment. Depends on my mood ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ahahahahah 3y ago

The parent's comment certainly wasn't really insulting. Like is the HN community so fragile that it needs to downvote that mild criticism rather than engage with it?

maxbond 3y ago
> Unfortunately taking away internet points from the terminally online is akin to making an addict go cold turkey. It wouldn't end well. I found the insinuation that the HN community are overly-online and addicted to upvotes to be pretty insulting yeah. Could HN survive a comment like this? Certainly. Could HN survive if comments like this were left unchecked? Something would probably survive, but it wouldn't be the HN I'm willing to be a part of. I've been in my share of communities like that, and I'm done with them. HN certainly isn't perfect and criticism is warranted. Sometimes I email dang to complain about eg comments not being deletable. But I don't think this criticism is on the mark; they're making a bunch of provocative and insulting comments and also stating that they don't see thoughtful conversation here, and my personal opinion is that these things are related.