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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=117

by 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?

by 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?