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Also answered in this article: - Why exactly you're getting downvoted on HN for that unpopular opinion you just posted

• diN0bot 18y ago
  i run a site where articles are voted on. we don't show scores in the 'voting' part of the site. people have to make up their own minds. also, a user that participates in a discussion relinquishes past and future votes in that area.
• msluyter 18y ago
  A fact that reflects well on YC News, IMHO, is that it's not only having a dissenting opinion that gets you voted down, but rather being poorly reasoned, inadequately substantiated, badly stated, etc...
  • mnemonicsloth 18y ago
    If you re-frame this idea a little, you can come up with a better idea of how this bit of brain function probably operates in real life. (Experiments like this are carried out in pretty artificial circumstances, after all) HN formed after reddit started getting... frivolous. Lightweight. Unserious. Dumb and trollish. We're here in part to have fun, but it's a forebrain kind of fun. So rather than saying that you get voted down on HN for sloppy thinking, inarticulate, lazy, or generally being a dick [1], it might be more appropriate to say that, the community punishes people for violating its norms. Or to get pedantic about it, the community assumes each of its members will behave this way, and steps in to punish those who aren't averse enough to being different in unacceptable ways. [1] I think one of the site's official policies used to be "just don't be a dick. You know what that means," or some such, but it seems to be gone now.
  • deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]