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> All comments start with a score of 1 point […]. After users reach 501 Karma, they gain the ability to downvote another comment. Downvoted comments (i.e. with

> All comments start with a score of 1 point […]. After users reach 501 Karma, they gain the ability to downvote another comment. Downvoted comments (i.e. with a score < 1) reduce their placement on the comment thread and will appear desaturated to other users deemphasize them. There is no upper limit on the score of a comment, but the minimum score is -4 points. Additional downvotes after that still subtract points from the user's Karma, but the comment won't go below -4. [0] So one downvote is enough, it seems. [0]: https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented

AnimalMuppet 3y ago
The one example I saw in a quick search that was -4 (dead) did not have the arrow to allow downvoting. So it appears that, once it's at -4, you can't subtract any more points from the user's karma via that post.
- ptero 3y ago
  You generally cannot downvote old posts (24 hrs and above I think, but not sure), but can upvote for months (maybe forever). Was the post you checked with no downvote arrows older than 24 hrs?
  - AnimalMuppet 3y ago
    Found another one to double check. It says "dead", so I assume that means it's at -4. It also doesn't say [flagged], so it's not flag killed. 19 hours old. No down arrow. No up arrow either, for that matter. No arrows at all. The only thing I could do was vouch for it. But almost all of that author's recent comments are dead, so maybe what I'm seeing instead is someone who's shadowbanned.
- mikestew 3y ago
  [dead] means the account is shadow-banned. You can see them because you have changed the default of “show dead” in your user settings. Otherwise you wouldn’t see the post. You have to be a bad boy or girl to earn that badge. Voting isn’t allowed (probably) because votes no longer make a difference. And the points on a post are not displayed to anyone but the one who posted the comment.
  - AnimalMuppet 3y ago
    Don't posts also say "[dead]" when they reach -4?
    - philipkglass 3y ago
      You're probably thinking of [flagged] [dead]. People can keep downvoting a -4 post indefinitely and it won't do anything to hide the post or reduce the poster's karma total. People have to separately flag the post, apart from downvoting, for it to become [flagged] [dead]. It's easy to misinterpret because posts that attract heavy downvoting also tend to attract flagging.

AnimalMuppet 3y ago

The one example I saw in a quick search that was -4 (dead) did not have the arrow to allow downvoting. So it appears that, once it's at -4, you can't subtract any more points from the user's karma via that post.

ptero 3y ago
You generally cannot downvote old posts (24 hrs and above I think, but not sure), but can upvote for months (maybe forever). Was the post you checked with no downvote arrows older than 24 hrs?
- AnimalMuppet 3y ago
  Found another one to double check. It says "dead", so I assume that means it's at -4. It also doesn't say [flagged], so it's not flag killed. 19 hours old. No down arrow. No up arrow either, for that matter. No arrows at all. The only thing I could do was vouch for it. But almost all of that author's recent comments are dead, so maybe what I'm seeing instead is someone who's shadowbanned.
mikestew 3y ago
[dead] means the account is shadow-banned. You can see them because you have changed the default of “show dead” in your user settings. Otherwise you wouldn’t see the post. You have to be a bad boy or girl to earn that badge. Voting isn’t allowed (probably) because votes no longer make a difference. And the points on a post are not displayed to anyone but the one who posted the comment.
- AnimalMuppet 3y ago
  Don't posts also say "[dead]" when they reach -4?
  - philipkglass 3y ago
    You're probably thinking of [flagged] [dead]. People can keep downvoting a -4 post indefinitely and it won't do anything to hide the post or reduce the poster's karma total. People have to separately flag the post, apart from downvoting, for it to become [flagged] [dead]. It's easy to misinterpret because posts that attract heavy downvoting also tend to attract flagging.