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In theory, signal gets upvoted and noise gets downvoted. If I get downvoted, my post was probably noise. I don't want to increase the noise level, and I accept
by philh 17y ago
In theory, signal gets upvoted and noise gets downvoted. If I get downvoted, my post was probably noise. I don't want to increase the noise level, and I accept that I may not be the best judge of my own comments' quality.
It makes sense to care about karma as an indicator of whether the community thinks my contributions are good or not.
- BrentRitterbeck 17y agoYeah, but my point was that it's the same as being afraid to ask a question in class because the question may be viewed as stupid. There's no such thing as a stupid question. I think it's kind of silly to worry what people think about your question if it is a legitimate question.
- derefr 17y agoThere may not be such a thing as a stupid question, but there are definitely people that not ony think there is, but that I emotionally value the judgement of, even when that judgement is bases on invalid logic. To point at a pop-psychological basis, pretend it was your father that said "that's a stupid question." You might argue against it to hell and back, but there's no way you would be unaffected by the statement.
- BrentRitterbeck 17y agoYeah, but my father is not one of the people on Hacker News. EDIT: These are just normal people, albeit a group of successful entrepreneurs. We've all had things we wish knew. If you have a question, why not ask it?