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Don't repeat my mistake to reply to a massively-downvoted comment as people will downvote the reply as well to double-punish you.

by kolev 11y ago

Odipides 11y ago
Sod 'em. Downvotes don't make you wrong, just in a minority. Anyway, this HN set-up has more rules than you can shake a stick at. You're better off elsewhere. "Community" my ass
- kolev 11y ago
  Agreed! Downvoting ruins everything. Not sure what HN gains from it other than leaving a bitter taste in the mouth after somebody dares to post unpopular opinions!
  - rebootthesystem 11y ago
    If you completely ignore the votes life on HN is much better. Remember that most people live in a cargo cult reality and don't even know it or care to recognize it. It is far easier for a person to align with their surroundings than to stick their head out and suggest thoughts or ideas that migh separate them from the surrounding culture and ideology. History is full of examples of people who see the world differently only to be ridiculed (or worst) and later proven to be correct. From Copernicus to Columbus, the Personal Computer and FedEx. Ideas that were ridiculed and rejected by "smart folks" only to alter society in a major way once proven to be correct. This, I feel, is what isn't captured by these silly voting systems. The HN version of fora would have burned Copernicus at the stake for daring to suggest that the Earth was not the center of the universe. Similarly, here, today, the voting system does not capture innovative thinking but rather cargo cult. Yes, it generally helps bubble good/correct posts to the surface but it also serves to squash down anything that does not align with majority rule. Which means that the audience is subjected to a positive feedback loop fed by cargo cult mentality rather than allowing the injection of a variety of viewpoints for intelligent independent evaluation. Again, ignore the voting system. Don't let it get to you. It isn't designed to promote alternative thinking at all, that much is evident.
    - Odipides 11y ago
      100%. Also, offend an Apple, Amazon, Google or M$ fanboy at your peril. And, on a personal note: Got a downvote from the sheeple. Just proves the point. Whoo hoo!
      - rebootthesystem 11y ago
        Someone needs to come up with a system that limits mob rule through voting and enhanced the ability of communities to maintain quality user-contributed content while giving equal time to alternative points of view. This is not easy. These kinds of problems go back to the old USENET days. Of course, there was no click voting system. What would happen is that you'd get piled-on by folks who felt entitled to police specific lists. Horrible nasty flame wars would emerge with people being brutally assaulted online in every way imaginable. Today things are different, the up/down vote is there. And every site I can think of has mob rule problems. From StackOverflow to HN and everything in between. Again, not an easy problem to address.
        Grimbus 11y ago
        Well something I'd ban is "awesome power" capabilities. Some sites, after you get more than 30 billion upvotes (or some suitably hyperbolic number), you become a meta-poster with various super-powers and the ability to sling your weight around and punish the noobs. The all time favourite "closed for being primarily opinion-based" is wielded with totalitarian contempt and authority. Absurd really because EVERYTHING is opinion based; sometimes those opinions are backed up by empirical evidence sometimes they're backed up by having 30 billion upvotes. The whole system stinks and, before a super-user blacks me for "Irrelevant or tangential content", the reason I address this is because the original poster who was screwed by Amazon is just another example of too much power being wielded to suppress dissent. Further, before I'm accused of a diatribe about a problem without offering a solution, I have a number of proposals none of which will ever be implemented because the all-powerful and mighty may lose their pre-eminent positions as a result. Status-quo rules KO
        11y ago

Don't repeat my mistake to reply to a massively-downvoted comment as people will downvote the reply as well to double-punish you.

by kolev 11y ago

Don't repeat my mistake to reply to a massively-downvoted comment as people will downvote the reply as well to double-punish you.

Odipides 11y ago

Sod 'em. Downvotes don't make you wrong, just in a minority. Anyway, this HN set-up has more rules than you can shake a stick at. You're better off elsewhere. "Community" my ass

kolev 11y ago
Agreed! Downvoting ruins everything. Not sure what HN gains from it other than leaving a bitter taste in the mouth after somebody dares to post unpopular opinions!
- rebootthesystem 11y ago
  If you completely ignore the votes life on HN is much better. Remember that most people live in a cargo cult reality and don't even know it or care to recognize it. It is far easier for a person to align with their surroundings than to stick their head out and suggest thoughts or ideas that migh separate them from the surrounding culture and ideology. History is full of examples of people who see the world differently only to be ridiculed (or worst) and later proven to be correct. From Copernicus to Columbus, the Personal Computer and FedEx. Ideas that were ridiculed and rejected by "smart folks" only to alter society in a major way once proven to be correct. This, I feel, is what isn't captured by these silly voting systems. The HN version of fora would have burned Copernicus at the stake for daring to suggest that the Earth was not the center of the universe. Similarly, here, today, the voting system does not capture innovative thinking but rather cargo cult. Yes, it generally helps bubble good/correct posts to the surface but it also serves to squash down anything that does not align with majority rule. Which means that the audience is subjected to a positive feedback loop fed by cargo cult mentality rather than allowing the injection of a variety of viewpoints for intelligent independent evaluation. Again, ignore the voting system. Don't let it get to you. It isn't designed to promote alternative thinking at all, that much is evident.
  - Odipides 11y ago
    100%. Also, offend an Apple, Amazon, Google or M$ fanboy at your peril. And, on a personal note: Got a downvote from the sheeple. Just proves the point. Whoo hoo!
    - rebootthesystem 11y ago
      Someone needs to come up with a system that limits mob rule through voting and enhanced the ability of communities to maintain quality user-contributed content while giving equal time to alternative points of view. This is not easy. These kinds of problems go back to the old USENET days. Of course, there was no click voting system. What would happen is that you'd get piled-on by folks who felt entitled to police specific lists. Horrible nasty flame wars would emerge with people being brutally assaulted online in every way imaginable. Today things are different, the up/down vote is there. And every site I can think of has mob rule problems. From StackOverflow to HN and everything in between. Again, not an easy problem to address.
      - Grimbus 11y ago
        Well something I'd ban is "awesome power" capabilities. Some sites, after you get more than 30 billion upvotes (or some suitably hyperbolic number), you become a meta-poster with various super-powers and the ability to sling your weight around and punish the noobs. The all time favourite "closed for being primarily opinion-based" is wielded with totalitarian contempt and authority. Absurd really because EVERYTHING is opinion based; sometimes those opinions are backed up by empirical evidence sometimes they're backed up by having 30 billion upvotes. The whole system stinks and, before a super-user blacks me for "Irrelevant or tangential content", the reason I address this is because the original poster who was screwed by Amazon is just another example of too much power being wielded to suppress dissent. Further, before I'm accused of a diatribe about a problem without offering a solution, I have a number of proposals none of which will ever be implemented because the all-powerful and mighty may lose their pre-eminent positions as a result. Status-quo rules KO
        11y ago