In the old days, I would've just upvoted you and watched your comment score go up, up, up. The rest of the readers of the thread would see how many previous peo

In the old days, I would've just upvoted you and watched your comment score go up, up, up. The rest of the readers of the thread would see how many previous people had agreed/upvoted and it was nice. Today though I have to comment to show my appreciation - comment scores aren't shown and have little if any value any more. I've been around for 5+ years here I guess and this is my explanation for it as well. I'd also add that such negativity is inevitable for some people - they visit HN 20x a day, they want to contribute in some way, but no one has made a post today that they can "show off" with an answer. In the end, they reply with a silly/off-the-cuff/disresectful/snide/etc answer just b/c they have this need to "participate in the community". HN is reddit-like for many people, myself included, in that way. I'm not immune to it either.