4 ms·

> Hacker News does not allow submissions to be downvoted. I thought it does?

argonaut 13y ago
You can only flag submissions. Flagging is meant to be reserved for spam or other egregious violations, as far as I know, though the "rules" on HN are not hard and fast. I'll sometimes flag really egregiously link-baity submissions.
- wfunction 13y ago
  Hmm... how do posts die then? By flagging?
  - saraid216 13y ago
    Posts don't need upvotes to live, and don't need downvotes to die. I imagine there's some ranking done based on the number of upvotes or comments in the last X period against the amount of time it's been up at all.
  - ehsanu1 13y ago
    AFAIK the site itself, and mods (unknown who they are besides pg really) kill posts at their own whim. Flagging is one signal for that. Of course, you can just wait for the passage of time, which will "kill" any post on the front page eventually.
    - wfunction 13y ago
      I'm pretty sure I've seen posts pretty much Dead On Arrival though... I don't think the mods are monitoring the Newest page 24/7?
      - itafroma 13y ago
        pg has mentioned[1] that there are certain banned sites: if a submitted story is from one of them, presumably it is killed immediately automatically. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5502382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5502382
      - ehsanu1 13y ago
        That's what I meant by "the site iteslf", sorry I wasn't clear. There's definitely some automated spam-detection, and voting circle detection, which auto-bans some posts.
- saraid216 13y ago
  The only stated reason to flag is this: > Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did. I generally understand "flag" to mean "Dear Mods, you should really look at this". /shrug
  - wfunction 13y ago
    > there is a karma threshold Is there a list of karma thresholds somewhere? I haven't found any up-to-date ones anywhere.
    - recoiledsnake 13y ago
      It's been at 500 since a couple of years AFAIK.
    - saraid216 13y ago
      I don't recall noticing any special powers since passing 500, so everything I know about is unlocked by then.
  - petercooper 13y ago
    As per the rules I often flag things that are "off topic", especially things that violate the would-it-be-on-TV-news guideline. TBH, I think a downvote would be better than flagging for that but.. guidelines.
kemayo 13y ago
Only comments get downvote arrows. Submissions are pure upvotes. Check the FAQ: http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html (Unless ridiculously high karma levels unlock super-secret powers, I suppose.)

You can only flag submissions. Flagging is meant to be reserved for spam or other egregious violations, as far as I know, though the "rules" on HN are not hard and fast. I'll sometimes flag really egregiously link-baity submissions.

wfunction 13y ago
Hmm... how do posts die then? By flagging?
- saraid216 13y ago
  Posts don't need upvotes to live, and don't need downvotes to die. I imagine there's some ranking done based on the number of upvotes or comments in the last X period against the amount of time it's been up at all.
- ehsanu1 13y ago
  AFAIK the site itself, and mods (unknown who they are besides pg really) kill posts at their own whim. Flagging is one signal for that. Of course, you can just wait for the passage of time, which will "kill" any post on the front page eventually.
  - wfunction 13y ago
    I'm pretty sure I've seen posts pretty much Dead On Arrival though... I don't think the mods are monitoring the Newest page 24/7?
    - itafroma 13y ago
      pg has mentioned[1] that there are certain banned sites: if a submitted story is from one of them, presumably it is killed immediately automatically. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5502382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5502382
    - ehsanu1 13y ago
      That's what I meant by "the site iteslf", sorry I wasn't clear. There's definitely some automated spam-detection, and voting circle detection, which auto-bans some posts.
saraid216 13y ago
The only stated reason to flag is this: > Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did. I generally understand "flag" to mean "Dear Mods, you should really look at this". /shrug
- wfunction 13y ago
  > there is a karma threshold Is there a list of karma thresholds somewhere? I haven't found any up-to-date ones anywhere.
  - recoiledsnake 13y ago
    It's been at 500 since a couple of years AFAIK.
  - saraid216 13y ago
    I don't recall noticing any special powers since passing 500, so everything I know about is unlocked by then.
- petercooper 13y ago
  As per the rules I often flag things that are "off topic", especially things that violate the would-it-be-on-TV-news guideline. TBH, I think a downvote would be better than flagging for that but.. guidelines.

kemayo 13y ago

Only comments get downvote arrows. Submissions are pure upvotes. Check the FAQ: http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html (Unless ridiculously high karma levels unlock super-secret powers, I suppose.)