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What's up with the rampant downvoting the past week or so? I see all kinds of posts downvoted that shouldn't be (like this one). Seems like it has really taken

What's up with the rampant downvoting the past week or so? I see all kinds of posts downvoted that shouldn't be (like this one). Seems like it has really taken off the past week or so. Downvoting is not something you do merely because you disagree. Valuable, intelligent discussion of complex topics that matter requires some disagreement. Downvoting should be saved for comments that are inappropriate in some manner according to the values of the site.

deleted 13y ago
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jnbiche 13y ago
I agree 100%, and I've also noted a clear trend toward rampant downvoting the last 2-3 weeks. I've been here for a number of years and have never noticed or complained about this type of downvoting issue prior to the past few weeks. Do you have any idea why this is happening? There seem to be a handful of people who have recently obtained the ability to downvote, and who are now downvoting any comment that find distasteful -- even ones that are rational and well-thought out. Most of the well-written downvoted comments are eventually upvoted, but these comments are often almost invisible during times of most exposure. I've actually wanted to try to quantify this, but I can't figure out how to establish the pre-downvoting baseline, particularly since people seem to eventually upvote many of the downvoted comments. Edit: To be clear, I'm not complaining about being downvoted. I've got more than enough karma, even if I cared about that. I'm complaining about lots of other people being downvoted for writing cogent, thoughtful comments. It's not a positive trend.
abtinf 13y ago
Downvoting to express disagreement is appropriate on HN. See pg's comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171
- jnbiche 13y ago
  That's a single comment from pg from the very early days of HN. And that's not how things developed organically. Instead, downvoting comments has been reserved for comments that violate community standards. Here's a more recent comment from pg in which he describes ideal comments, and the collegial atmosphere he's been trying to promote for HN [1]. In my opinion, downvoting a well thought-out comment made in good faith is not very collegial. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7445761 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7445761
  - abtinf 13y ago
    My interpretation pg's plan for a comment endorsement scheme was that it actually encouraged downvoting for disagreement. If garbage comments are filtered out through endorsement, then, if you view of downvoting held true, there would not longer be any need for downvoting and the downvoting button should be removed. This is not what was proposed. If only quality comments make it past the proposed endorsement filter, and the downvote button continues to exist, then the only purpose of downvoting would be to express disagreement.
  - gress 13y ago
    Nope. Flagging is for comments that violate standards.
    - jnbiche 13y ago
      You flag a comment every time you think it breaks a community standard? Like, every silly "me, too" comment and one-line meme comment? If that's the case, I can almost guarantee you that your flags don't carry a lot of weight in HN's algorithmic ratings.
      - gress 13y ago
        I do not. I am just pointing out that that's what they are for. Of course drivel comments are also likely to be downvoted heavily, but that doesn't mean that this is the only intent of downvotes. Do you know the rating algorithms?

deleted 13y ago

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jnbiche 13y ago

I agree 100%, and I've also noted a clear trend toward rampant downvoting the last 2-3 weeks. I've been here for a number of years and have never noticed or complained about this type of downvoting issue prior to the past few weeks. Do you have any idea why this is happening? There seem to be a handful of people who have recently obtained the ability to downvote, and who are now downvoting any comment that find distasteful -- even ones that are rational and well-thought out. Most of the well-written downvoted comments are eventually upvoted, but these comments are often almost invisible during times of most exposure. I've actually wanted to try to quantify this, but I can't figure out how to establish the pre-downvoting baseline, particularly since people seem to eventually upvote many of the downvoted comments. Edit: To be clear, I'm not complaining about being downvoted. I've got more than enough karma, even if I cared about that. I'm complaining about lots of other people being downvoted for writing cogent, thoughtful comments. It's not a positive trend.

abtinf 13y ago

Downvoting to express disagreement is appropriate on HN. See pg's comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171

jnbiche 13y ago
That's a single comment from pg from the very early days of HN. And that's not how things developed organically. Instead, downvoting comments has been reserved for comments that violate community standards. Here's a more recent comment from pg in which he describes ideal comments, and the collegial atmosphere he's been trying to promote for HN [1]. In my opinion, downvoting a well thought-out comment made in good faith is not very collegial. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7445761 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7445761
- abtinf 13y ago
  My interpretation pg's plan for a comment endorsement scheme was that it actually encouraged downvoting for disagreement. If garbage comments are filtered out through endorsement, then, if you view of downvoting held true, there would not longer be any need for downvoting and the downvoting button should be removed. This is not what was proposed. If only quality comments make it past the proposed endorsement filter, and the downvote button continues to exist, then the only purpose of downvoting would be to express disagreement.
- gress 13y ago
  Nope. Flagging is for comments that violate standards.
  - jnbiche 13y ago
    You flag a comment every time you think it breaks a community standard? Like, every silly "me, too" comment and one-line meme comment? If that's the case, I can almost guarantee you that your flags don't carry a lot of weight in HN's algorithmic ratings.
    - gress 13y ago
      I do not. I am just pointing out that that's what they are for. Of course drivel comments are also likely to be downvoted heavily, but that doesn't mean that this is the only intent of downvotes. Do you know the rating algorithms?