4 ms·

Please don't fulminate on HN. The guidelines make it clear we're trying for something better here. If you think a submission or comment is of low quality, just

by tomhow 11mo ago

Please don't fulminate on HN. The guidelines make it clear we're trying for something better here. If you think a submission or comment is of low quality, just flag it, and if you really want to get the message across, email us – hn@ycombinator.com. Please don't respond to things you think make HN bad by posting comments that can only make it worse. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

barfoure 11mo ago
Sigh. I get it. I just don’t agree with it but fair point.
- tomhow 11mo ago
  Sure. Remember I have to read this stuff all day ;)
- ewoodrich 11mo ago
  IMHO your comment would have been far more constructive if you actually explained what "copium factory" is supposed to mean in this context. As it stands I literally have no idea what you are trying to say except for the broad dismissal of the post as pop psychology. (And yes I'm familiar with the word, it still just doesn't make any sense to me).
ThrowawayR2 11mo ago
It would nice if there were a way to downvote submissions to indicate they're of low quality that's separate from flagging. Flagging is rather heavy handed in that it can cause a submission to become [dead] since it seems to be mostly intended for marking submissions that break the guidelines.
- tomhow 11mo ago
  I think after nearly 19 years it’s pretty well settled that downvoting of stories won’t be happening :) The principle is that we don’t want a battle between upvotes and downvotes to determine rank, because that would set the wrong incentives (e.g coordinated downvoting of stories to help a particular story move up the rankings). The guidelines include what is on-topic/off-topic, and the most significant criterion is whether a story gratifies intellectual curiosity. If you earnestly feel that it doesn’t, then it’s fine to flag it as being off-topic. Otherwise it’s just not to your taste, in which case hit “hide” and upvote stories you do like. See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=373801 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=373801

by tomhow 11mo ago

barfoure 11mo ago

Sigh. I get it. I just don’t agree with it but fair point.

tomhow 11mo ago
Sure. Remember I have to read this stuff all day ;)
ewoodrich 11mo ago
IMHO your comment would have been far more constructive if you actually explained what "copium factory" is supposed to mean in this context. As it stands I literally have no idea what you are trying to say except for the broad dismissal of the post as pop psychology. (And yes I'm familiar with the word, it still just doesn't make any sense to me).

ThrowawayR2 11mo ago

It would nice if there were a way to downvote submissions to indicate they're of low quality that's separate from flagging. Flagging is rather heavy handed in that it can cause a submission to become [dead] since it seems to be mostly intended for marking submissions that break the guidelines.

tomhow 11mo ago
I think after nearly 19 years it’s pretty well settled that downvoting of stories won’t be happening :) The principle is that we don’t want a battle between upvotes and downvotes to determine rank, because that would set the wrong incentives (e.g coordinated downvoting of stories to help a particular story move up the rankings). The guidelines include what is on-topic/off-topic, and the most significant criterion is whether a story gratifies intellectual curiosity. If you earnestly feel that it doesn’t, then it’s fine to flag it as being off-topic. Otherwise it’s just not to your taste, in which case hit “hide” and upvote stories you do like. See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=373801 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=373801