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It's much better to get a reply, even a negative one, than a vote either up or down. It's not, it would make for a much noisier and much less interesting forum

by pvg 3y ago

It's much better to get a reply, even a negative one, than a vote either up or down. It's not, it would make for a much noisier and much less interesting forum. The whole 'receipts for (or instead of!) downvotes' thing is driven by the (entirely real) unpleasantness of getting downvoted. Nobody ever asks for receipts for upvotes.

nonrandomstring 3y ago
> It's not It would be better for me, and for the reasons I participate. > much less interesting forum. For me it would make it much more interesting > Nobody ever asks for receipts for upvotes. Then let me be the first. Most sincerely, I am equally dismayed by having a bunch of random upvotes and no explanation of why that particular point hit home. Maybe I need to say it explicitly "Why is this being upvoted?" That could lead to some interesting discussions.
- rezonant 3y ago
  There's no mechanism to return to view what you've upvoted, so such a request isn't likely to be fulfilled. Just think of it like here's the balance of thumbs up and thumbs down, and go from there. We don't live in a world where we have perfect information, unfortunately. If you get downvoted on something, feedback that in to the next time you mention it. It may be bad form to complain about downvoting but it's not bad form to start with "I think this is an unpopular opinion (though I'm not sure why yet) but..." and hope that folks bite and tell you why.
  - pvg 3y ago
    There's no mechanism to return to view what you've upvoted It's in your profile, unless I'm misunderstanding the mechanism you have in mind.
- pvg 3y ago
  For me it would make it much more interesting Right but the forum has been around for 15+ years and also aims for interestingness for the many users that are not you.
  - nonrandomstring 3y ago
    That's a snarky false dichotomy pvg, and you should know better. There's no reason it cannot be improved no matter how long things have been as they are, and there's no reason it can't be more interesting for me and for others.
    - pvg 3y ago
      It’s a dichotomy you got us into with your own snark. You haven’t described how what you’re suggesting (a very very common HN suggestion) would improve HN. I told you why it thought it wouldn’t.
      - nonrandomstring 3y ago
        > You haven’t described how what you’re suggesting (a very very common HN suggestion) would improve HN. Well that's not true. I've said that I believe getting detailed feedback from a known respondent is better than anonymous up or downvotes, and that since downvotes affect visibility if ones aim is to improve the quality of posting/writing then it's a superior form of feedback. You call it "noise". I think that's just where we'll have to differ. Might I also say that it being a "very, very common" suggestion might bolster my point rather than subtract from it. We're all believers in supply and demand here, right? Anyway I must hush my tongue as Dang is wagging a finger at me for being too mouthy. :) respects
        pvg 3y ago
        It's a long dead thread so you have plenty of mouthiness latitude. As to very very common suggestion? It has an equally common and even more persuasive rebuttal which, again, you've not addressed on its merits at all. You have 'I'd find it interesting', 'I don't like you dismissing it as noise' and 'you say many other people have had this bad idea thus it's not a bad idea'. These are all a little indirect, meta and not really responsive to the counterargument.

by pvg 3y ago

nonrandomstring 3y ago

> It's not It would be better for me, and for the reasons I participate. > much less interesting forum. For me it would make it much more interesting > Nobody ever asks for receipts for upvotes. Then let me be the first. Most sincerely, I am equally dismayed by having a bunch of random upvotes and no explanation of why that particular point hit home. Maybe I need to say it explicitly "Why is this being upvoted?" That could lead to some interesting discussions.

rezonant 3y ago
There's no mechanism to return to view what you've upvoted, so such a request isn't likely to be fulfilled. Just think of it like here's the balance of thumbs up and thumbs down, and go from there. We don't live in a world where we have perfect information, unfortunately. If you get downvoted on something, feedback that in to the next time you mention it. It may be bad form to complain about downvoting but it's not bad form to start with "I think this is an unpopular opinion (though I'm not sure why yet) but..." and hope that folks bite and tell you why.
- pvg 3y ago
  There's no mechanism to return to view what you've upvoted It's in your profile, unless I'm misunderstanding the mechanism you have in mind.
pvg 3y ago
For me it would make it much more interesting Right but the forum has been around for 15+ years and also aims for interestingness for the many users that are not you.
- nonrandomstring 3y ago
  That's a snarky false dichotomy pvg, and you should know better. There's no reason it cannot be improved no matter how long things have been as they are, and there's no reason it can't be more interesting for me and for others.
  - pvg 3y ago
    It’s a dichotomy you got us into with your own snark. You haven’t described how what you’re suggesting (a very very common HN suggestion) would improve HN. I told you why it thought it wouldn’t.
    - nonrandomstring 3y ago
      > You haven’t described how what you’re suggesting (a very very common HN suggestion) would improve HN. Well that's not true. I've said that I believe getting detailed feedback from a known respondent is better than anonymous up or downvotes, and that since downvotes affect visibility if ones aim is to improve the quality of posting/writing then it's a superior form of feedback. You call it "noise". I think that's just where we'll have to differ. Might I also say that it being a "very, very common" suggestion might bolster my point rather than subtract from it. We're all believers in supply and demand here, right? Anyway I must hush my tongue as Dang is wagging a finger at me for being too mouthy. :) respects
      - pvg 3y ago
        It's a long dead thread so you have plenty of mouthiness latitude. As to very very common suggestion? It has an equally common and even more persuasive rebuttal which, again, you've not addressed on its merits at all. You have 'I'd find it interesting', 'I don't like you dismissing it as noise' and 'you say many other people have had this bad idea thus it's not a bad idea'. These are all a little indirect, meta and not really responsive to the counterargument.