4 ms·

Holy -- what the hell HN? Let's get this guy's comment up to a score of -3 or so. His comment is not a troll, it's just unpopular.

by palish 18y ago

kirse 18y ago
Welcome to HN, where the spam (and unpopular opinion) get down-voted. It's a completely legitimate comment, and one that I also agree with based on his other post substantiating it. Otherwise, I've noticed the bandwagon downvoting comes once the comment reaches -3 or lower. There's no turning back after that. It's really no surprise or different from any other social network. People naturally shun the unpopular and form groups.
- palish 18y ago
  Yeah, for sure. It's a worrying trend in my opinion, and it might be unavoidable unless a software solution is implemented. I don't want new HN members to be discouraged from contributing just because they made one mistake, and nothing would crush your morale faster than seeing all of your karma vanish just because you expressed an unpopular opinion. Also, I really dislike the phrase "unpopular opinion". It's people's opinions! People can feel however they want. They should not be curb-stomped by the general populace just because they reject monogamy, or because they thought Hitler was an effective-but-misguided leader, or... et cetera.
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  - dhimes 18y ago
    If it's any comfort, a couple of days ago one of my comments took a karma hit but rebounded back into positive territory. It wasn't political, though, so maybe that's the distinction.
DarkShikari 18y ago
If you look at Reddit, almost any comment saying anything positive about Israel (or negative about the Palestinians) is downmodded massively. Enough of HN is from Reddit that you're almost certain to get the same sort of thing here, too. Disclaimer to the downmodders: I'm not pro-Israel at all--I just think this sort of downmodding the other side of an issue, regardless of the merits of the post itself, is ridiculous.
- palish 18y ago
  Yeah. Personally, I think it's OK to use downmodding as an expression of disagreement. (If I'm saying something stupid, I want my karma to take a hit for it.) However, as soon as the comment reaches -2 or maybe -3 max, then that has to stop, because any score lower than that needs to be reserved for troll comments.
  - ars 18y ago
    No, I don't think that's OK. Downmod stuff that's wrong, downmod trolls. And upmod the good stuff. Leave the stuff you disagree with alone. And if you can't tell the difference between "wrong" and "disagree with" then leave it alone. And for stuff that's wrong, downmod just a little as a signal to people, especially if there are comments correcting it. Everyone is wrong sometimes, unless the person is flamebaiting there is no reason to punish someone for being wrong. The philosophy of HN is upmod the good stuff - there is a reason you can't downmod a story.
- ars 18y ago
  Disclaimer to the downmodders: I'm not pro-Israel at all--I just think this sort of downmodding the other side of an issue, regardless of the merits of the post itself, is ridiculous. Sigh, I was going to upmod you, and then you added that. That's EXACTLY the problem! You shouldn't need to kowtow to the "popular" position in order to not get downmodded! Wasn't that exactly the point of your comment? You are basically saying that if people think you are pro-israel you will be downmodded - that's disgusting.
  - DarkShikari 18y ago
arockwell 18y ago
This happens more than you might think, but generally the score won't stay that low for long. Comments like this seem to attract a large number of votes in both directions.

Holy -- what the hell HN? Let's get this guy's comment up to a score of -3 or so. His comment is not a troll, it's just unpopular.

by palish 18y ago

Holy -- what the hell HN? Let's get this guy's comment up to a score of -3 or so. His comment is not a troll, it's just unpopular.

kirse 18y ago

Welcome to HN, where the spam (and unpopular opinion) get down-voted. It's a completely legitimate comment, and one that I also agree with based on his other post substantiating it. Otherwise, I've noticed the bandwagon downvoting comes once the comment reaches -3 or lower. There's no turning back after that. It's really no surprise or different from any other social network. People naturally shun the unpopular and form groups.

palish 18y ago
Yeah, for sure. It's a worrying trend in my opinion, and it might be unavoidable unless a software solution is implemented. I don't want new HN members to be discouraged from contributing just because they made one mistake, and nothing would crush your morale faster than seeing all of your karma vanish just because you expressed an unpopular opinion. Also, I really dislike the phrase "unpopular opinion". It's people's opinions! People can feel however they want. They should not be curb-stomped by the general populace just because they reject monogamy, or because they thought Hitler was an effective-but-misguided leader, or... et cetera.
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- dhimes 18y ago
  If it's any comfort, a couple of days ago one of my comments took a karma hit but rebounded back into positive territory. It wasn't political, though, so maybe that's the distinction.

DarkShikari 18y ago

If you look at Reddit, almost any comment saying anything positive about Israel (or negative about the Palestinians) is downmodded massively. Enough of HN is from Reddit that you're almost certain to get the same sort of thing here, too. Disclaimer to the downmodders: I'm not pro-Israel at all--I just think this sort of downmodding the other side of an issue, regardless of the merits of the post itself, is ridiculous.

palish 18y ago
Yeah. Personally, I think it's OK to use downmodding as an expression of disagreement. (If I'm saying something stupid, I want my karma to take a hit for it.) However, as soon as the comment reaches -2 or maybe -3 max, then that has to stop, because any score lower than that needs to be reserved for troll comments.
- ars 18y ago
  No, I don't think that's OK. Downmod stuff that's wrong, downmod trolls. And upmod the good stuff. Leave the stuff you disagree with alone. And if you can't tell the difference between "wrong" and "disagree with" then leave it alone. And for stuff that's wrong, downmod just a little as a signal to people, especially if there are comments correcting it. Everyone is wrong sometimes, unless the person is flamebaiting there is no reason to punish someone for being wrong. The philosophy of HN is upmod the good stuff - there is a reason you can't downmod a story.
ars 18y ago
Disclaimer to the downmodders: I'm not pro-Israel at all--I just think this sort of downmodding the other side of an issue, regardless of the merits of the post itself, is ridiculous. Sigh, I was going to upmod you, and then you added that. That's EXACTLY the problem! You shouldn't need to kowtow to the "popular" position in order to not get downmodded! Wasn't that exactly the point of your comment? You are basically saying that if people think you are pro-israel you will be downmodded - that's disgusting.
- DarkShikari 18y ago

arockwell 18y ago

This happens more than you might think, but generally the score won't stay that low for long. Comments like this seem to attract a large number of votes in both directions.