4 ms·

I am very circumspect about downvoting, and rarely do it as I am still unsure of the criteria. I rarely have the opportunity to downvote vitriol and trolls, as

I am very circumspect about downvoting, and rarely do it as I am still unsure of the criteria. I rarely have the opportunity to downvote vitriol and trolls, as others have usually done that and there seems little point in piling on. I personally have a much higher threshold for comments which are worded aggressively, sarcastically, or humorously. I occasionally find myself upvoting comments which have been downvoted by the community due to "tone," if I think the core statement has a bunch of validity. Where I am most tempted to downvote is statements that repeat sticky memes that have been repeatedly disproven, but "sound true" within areas I have the most expertise, especially when they are presented as fact. Those kinds of comments lower the bar more than any other, IMO, by forcing a debate over whether the sky is in fact blue every single time the community attempts to discuss weather patterns and cloud formation. However, it is unclear to me whether that is valid criteria for downvoting, so I rarely even do that. TL;DR I am unsure when to downvote so I mostly don't.

ritchiea 13y ago
I tend to downvote when someone is mean spirited, overly pedantic or takes the discussion off topic in an unproductive manner. Or if it appears that the commenter has not read and considered the comments/article that preceded his/her comment.
vacri 13y ago
The criteria for downvoting is simply "do you feel like downvoting". pg stated a while back that it is perfectly HN-acceptable to use the downvote as a mere statement of disagreement. I haven't noticed any forum staff mention otherwise. I've seen downvotes on my comments even when they're neutral statements of fact ("dang is a moderator, recently announced" got a downvote from some HN denizen). Most people seem to follow the criterion you lay out though. Ultimately if a good comment gets a downmod that makes it less visible (why, oh why, does only one single downmod do this?) someone else usually comes along and 'corrects' it back to normal visibility.
- pbreit 13y ago
  Some original guidelines suggest it was ok to down vote for disagreement but I'm not sure "perfectly acceptable" would be the best way to put it. And more recently I believe he was even less encouraging of the practice. My own view is that down voting should never be used for simple disagreement (as long as argument is decent and good faith).
  - kelnos 13y ago
    I'd agree with that. Comments I disagree with that are well-thought-out often add a lot to a discussion, or at least to my understanding of what's going on and other people's points of view. I do tend to downvote comments that contain obvious factually-incorrect information, though, even if the information seems to have been provided in good faith.
    - roghummal 13y ago
      How often do you upvote comments like that? Those comments you disagree with, yet are well-thought-out, add a lot to the discussion or at least your understanding of what's going on and other people's points of view. I don't think people do that enough and it leads to comment-bloat. "I'll make my point and then add in a platitude to draw in the upvotes, hopefully balancing out the downvotes I'll get for my opinion."
      - kelnos 13y ago
        I'm probably slightly biased toward upvoting comments that I agree with, assuming similar good quality, but I tend to upvote comments I disagree with fairly often as well.
  - vacri 13y ago
    Well, 'perfectly acceptable' doesn't mean 'actively encouraged'. If you don't have a problem with something, it's acceptable to you, whether or not you endorse it. I haven't seen a recent comment where pg spoke against the practise, but it'd be very easy to miss in the firehose of content (which is why I specified 'I haven't noticed'). Do you have a link to the relevant post?
brudgers 13y ago
I downvote when I think it might make HN better, or at least keep it from getting worse. Sometimes this means I downvote just because it can substitute for some stupid reaction I might post in response. In other contexts, I often have a much higher threshold both for what I think is appropriate and how much civility plays a role in filtering what I post. But that's because elsewhere on the internet incivility often provides a substantial portion of the entertainment value. On HN, the entertainment value is largely in thoughtful discourse.

ritchiea 13y ago

I tend to downvote when someone is mean spirited, overly pedantic or takes the discussion off topic in an unproductive manner. Or if it appears that the commenter has not read and considered the comments/article that preceded his/her comment.

vacri 13y ago

The criteria for downvoting is simply "do you feel like downvoting". pg stated a while back that it is perfectly HN-acceptable to use the downvote as a mere statement of disagreement. I haven't noticed any forum staff mention otherwise. I've seen downvotes on my comments even when they're neutral statements of fact ("dang is a moderator, recently announced" got a downvote from some HN denizen). Most people seem to follow the criterion you lay out though. Ultimately if a good comment gets a downmod that makes it less visible (why, oh why, does only one single downmod do this?) someone else usually comes along and 'corrects' it back to normal visibility.

pbreit 13y ago
Some original guidelines suggest it was ok to down vote for disagreement but I'm not sure "perfectly acceptable" would be the best way to put it. And more recently I believe he was even less encouraging of the practice. My own view is that down voting should never be used for simple disagreement (as long as argument is decent and good faith).
- kelnos 13y ago
  I'd agree with that. Comments I disagree with that are well-thought-out often add a lot to a discussion, or at least to my understanding of what's going on and other people's points of view. I do tend to downvote comments that contain obvious factually-incorrect information, though, even if the information seems to have been provided in good faith.
  - roghummal 13y ago
    How often do you upvote comments like that? Those comments you disagree with, yet are well-thought-out, add a lot to the discussion or at least your understanding of what's going on and other people's points of view. I don't think people do that enough and it leads to comment-bloat. "I'll make my point and then add in a platitude to draw in the upvotes, hopefully balancing out the downvotes I'll get for my opinion."
    - kelnos 13y ago
      I'm probably slightly biased toward upvoting comments that I agree with, assuming similar good quality, but I tend to upvote comments I disagree with fairly often as well.
- vacri 13y ago
  Well, 'perfectly acceptable' doesn't mean 'actively encouraged'. If you don't have a problem with something, it's acceptable to you, whether or not you endorse it. I haven't seen a recent comment where pg spoke against the practise, but it'd be very easy to miss in the firehose of content (which is why I specified 'I haven't noticed'). Do you have a link to the relevant post?

brudgers 13y ago

I downvote when I think it might make HN better, or at least keep it from getting worse. Sometimes this means I downvote just because it can substitute for some stupid reaction I might post in response. In other contexts, I often have a much higher threshold both for what I think is appropriate and how much civility plays a role in filtering what I post. But that's because elsewhere on the internet incivility often provides a substantial portion of the entertainment value. On HN, the entertainment value is largely in thoughtful discourse.