5 ms·

Each of your comments detracted from the conversation, so I downmodded them all, if that makes you feel better.

rokhayakebe 18y ago
so I downmodded them all Frankly I do not see the point of downvoting or bragging about it, and your explanation does not make it right either. Each of your comments detracted from the conversation, You single handedly decided what detracts from the conversation, and I am sure you are not HN spokesman. It's like "an eye for an eye", but in this case you are hurting someone because you disagree with their opinion or the way they expressed it (and yes, I understand sometimes some users can be disrespectful). But even when someone is clearly not following the HN guidelines, they should simply be reminded of it, then ignored forever. The "free hand" in HN will auto-regulate them. That is the same free hand that does not upvote spam links. Downvoting comments "should not be" just as downvoting stories "is not". Silence is by far the best way to respond to ignorance.
- daleharvey 18y ago
  This thread was specifically made for conversation about how those 3 comments were voted, I dont think that counts as "bragging" While they didnt add "in my opinion" I think its more than obviously implied that it was his opinion that he was stating, and was not attempting to speak on behalf of anyone else. and the original poster stated that comments detract from the conversation should be downmodded, I agree that all 3 were somewhat insulting and added no value to the conversation, while I may be a relatively new user, they all seemed out of spirit (in my opinion)
- scott_s 18y ago
  Except the entire point of allowing users to downvote comments is to promote civility. If someone is not being civil, then they should be downvoted. This is a clearer and less distracting means of telling someone what's not appreciated. At least, this is my understanding of how pg intends the system to be used.
  - tokenadult 18y ago
    Yes, my understanding of the site culture is precisely that downvoting is to show that a comment doesn't contribute to the discussion, rather than to show factual disagreement with the comment. This thread here is a discussion about a submission that suggests not everyone is interpreting downvoting in the same way, and that is a legitimate issue to explore here, as long as we are all in metadiscussion mode.
    - scott_s 18y ago
      I invited explicit discussion the matter a while ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=361390 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=361390
DenisM 18y ago
Are you using an anecdote to refute statistics?
andreyf 18y ago
Each of your comments detracted from the conversation Clever, but not true. The sarcastic ones did, I agree. But the second one started a thread of sum karma ~100. That's the opposite of detracting ;)
- neilk 18y ago
  Your comment suggests an interesting way of rewarding people who further the conversation. Give the user their upmod points of the entire thread that responds. 1 - This makes the witty comeback a lesser strategy for obtaining karma. 2 - People who are aware of this will stop responding to trolls. Even if they publish a well-reasoned response to a troll, they will be giving them karma points. Since this is not a common feature of internet forums, this might be worth spelling out above an active comment form. 3 - The best strategy for karma is to advance the discussion somehow. Even if your point ends up exposing the point of view of people on the other side.
  - neilc 18y ago
    Give the user their upmod points of the entire thread that responds. That sounds like a surefire way to encourage provocation (a.k.a trolling). If you make a deliberately provocative and clueless statement and n people take the time to exhaustively tell you why you're wrong (for which they get karma), I don't think you deserve any of the karma given to the comments you provoked.
    - Eliezer 18y ago
      Only give people the upmod points of responders if the original comment has positive karma. Or let's say your original comment has karma +4; you get karma of responders up to +4 per response, but not more than that.
      - jerf 18y ago
        The more complicated the system, the easier it is to game. Presumably at some point that ceases to be true for a sufficiently complicated and good system, but my guess is that we're up into AI-complete territory there.

so I downmodded them all Frankly I do not see the point of downvoting or bragging about it, and your explanation does not make it right either. Each of your comments detracted from the conversation, You single handedly decided what detracts from the conversation, and I am sure you are not HN spokesman. It's like "an eye for an eye", but in this case you are hurting someone because you disagree with their opinion or the way they expressed it (and yes, I understand sometimes some users can be disrespectful). But even when someone is clearly not following the HN guidelines, they should simply be reminded of it, then ignored forever. The "free hand" in HN will auto-regulate them. That is the same free hand that does not upvote spam links. Downvoting comments "should not be" just as downvoting stories "is not". Silence is by far the best way to respond to ignorance.

daleharvey 18y ago
This thread was specifically made for conversation about how those 3 comments were voted, I dont think that counts as "bragging" While they didnt add "in my opinion" I think its more than obviously implied that it was his opinion that he was stating, and was not attempting to speak on behalf of anyone else. and the original poster stated that comments detract from the conversation should be downmodded, I agree that all 3 were somewhat insulting and added no value to the conversation, while I may be a relatively new user, they all seemed out of spirit (in my opinion)
scott_s 18y ago
Except the entire point of allowing users to downvote comments is to promote civility. If someone is not being civil, then they should be downvoted. This is a clearer and less distracting means of telling someone what's not appreciated. At least, this is my understanding of how pg intends the system to be used.
- tokenadult 18y ago
  Yes, my understanding of the site culture is precisely that downvoting is to show that a comment doesn't contribute to the discussion, rather than to show factual disagreement with the comment. This thread here is a discussion about a submission that suggests not everyone is interpreting downvoting in the same way, and that is a legitimate issue to explore here, as long as we are all in metadiscussion mode.
  - scott_s 18y ago
    I invited explicit discussion the matter a while ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=361390 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=361390

DenisM 18y ago

Are you using an anecdote to refute statistics?

andreyf 18y ago

Each of your comments detracted from the conversation Clever, but not true. The sarcastic ones did, I agree. But the second one started a thread of sum karma ~100. That's the opposite of detracting ;)

neilk 18y ago
Your comment suggests an interesting way of rewarding people who further the conversation. Give the user their upmod points of the entire thread that responds. 1 - This makes the witty comeback a lesser strategy for obtaining karma. 2 - People who are aware of this will stop responding to trolls. Even if they publish a well-reasoned response to a troll, they will be giving them karma points. Since this is not a common feature of internet forums, this might be worth spelling out above an active comment form. 3 - The best strategy for karma is to advance the discussion somehow. Even if your point ends up exposing the point of view of people on the other side.
- neilc 18y ago
  Give the user their upmod points of the entire thread that responds. That sounds like a surefire way to encourage provocation (a.k.a trolling). If you make a deliberately provocative and clueless statement and n people take the time to exhaustively tell you why you're wrong (for which they get karma), I don't think you deserve any of the karma given to the comments you provoked.
  - Eliezer 18y ago
    Only give people the upmod points of responders if the original comment has positive karma. Or let's say your original comment has karma +4; you get karma of responders up to +4 per response, but not more than that.
    - jerf 18y ago
      The more complicated the system, the easier it is to game. Presumably at some point that ceases to be true for a sufficiently complicated and good system, but my guess is that we're up into AI-complete territory there.