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Ask HN: How Do HN Downvotes work?
According to my last question (how upvotes work https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38073448), I now would like to ask how downvotes work. Are there also two needed for -1 point?
Please do not punish me for this question.I have read some posts but the whole picture how up- and downvotes work is a little unclear for me.
- pestatije 3y agoPrivileged users have the opportunity to give their negative opinion on your comment without having to explain themselves...this not only downgrades your comment but also your karma, giving a double-whammy hammer to those privileged users
- ulrischa 3y agoSo for one point up I need two upvotes but for one point down one downvote?
- brudgers 3y agoNo. If someone downvotes your comment you lose one point up to a maximum of five points (from 1 to -4). If someone upvotes your comment, you get one point with no cap (modulo voting ring prevention, computational limitations, and the passage of time). Points for stories tend to work differently, but since stories can't be downvoted, they aren't relevant here.
- mindcrime 3y ago> Privileged users are nothing more than users who have managed to rack up 500+ karma (unless the threshold has changed since I last thought about this). Anyway, it shouldn't take long for anybody making interesting and informative comments, and/or submitting interesting stories, to get to 500. So the pool of "privileged users" is probably a very large percentage of all active users.
- pestatije 3y agoit doesnt matter how they get there...the issue is some random guy has the privilege to say meh to my comments without further explanation
- ggm 3y agoKarma is mostly meaningless. Account age plus karma equals some indication of engagement to a first approximation noting if you post shit and get constant negation that wouldn't hold. So assumes good faith actions all round.
- Rochus 3y agoIf downvotes are meaningless, then HN should remove this feature; upvoting is enough to promote useful comments, and comments violating the rules can still be flagged. I don't see any reason for the majority of downvotes; mostly it's just other opinions that don't suit a few people; often it's even the correct presentation of the facts that has been downvoted.
- ggm 3y agoYes. Well.. sometimes. Sometimes it's people emoting, being reddit, ad hom.. it can be a lot of things.
- Rochus 3y agoThen you can still flag them.
- ggm 3y agoFlagging is a giant whack stick. Karma is incremental.
- Rochus 3y agoWell, if you don't like the comment, then just don't upvote it; and if it violates the rules, flag it. But the admin should keep an eye on flagging practice; if it is misused, the malus should fall back on those who misuse the feature.
- mindcrime 3y agoI'd encourage you not to waste much time worrying about this. It really just isn't particularly important in the grand scheme of things. There are a few token "perks" that come with having certain karma levels, but IIRC those top out at 500 points (when you can downvote comments). Beyond that, karma has no real meaning except inflating one's ego. You can't spend it or use it for anything, so...
- ulrischa 3y agoThanks for the words. Because I was sometimes frustrated for the downvote flood. What do you mean with token perks?
- mindcrime 3y ago> What do you mean with token perks? https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented
- BillyTheMage 3y agoYou can exchange it for dopamine
- Bender 3y agoThere are some additional details around karma and voting in this repo [1] that you may find useful. This is not my repo. [1] - https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented