Ask HN: What kind of a downvoter are you? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What kind of a downvoter are you?

#11

Post by tkgally » Wed, Dec 15, 2021, 2:11 PM UTC

zaphar wrote: post #3

I only downvote when a comment checks all of the following boxes for me: * It has little to no content relating to the conversation. * It is also unnecessarily provocative. Basically if it looks like a troll, walks like a troll, and acts like a troll it get's the downvote.

Same here. Conversely, I upvote when a comment is especially interesting or informative.

I try to avoid both upvoting and downvoting based only on whether I agree or disagree with the comment, though I can’t guarantee that I have stuck to this policy rigorously.

Re: Ask HN: What kind of a downvoter are you?

#12

Post by dusted » Wed, Dec 15, 2021, 2:11 PM UTC

Chaotic Neutral!

More seriously, I almost never downvote, when I do, it's mostly if it's outright offensive, either literally or intellectually, that is, not an argument that I disagree with as such, but one that I find offensively uninformed, self-deceptive or is nothing but value-signalling. That can include arguments that align with my own opinion [1].

1. Contrived example: I may find a proposed law a bad idea because it limits freedom in socity. If someone else agreed that it was a bad idea, but argued it was because the law would be friendly to "some ethnic minority they dislike". I'd still downvote them for being idiots, (to be fair, it'd probably also make me reconsider my own position).

Re: Ask HN: What kind of a downvoter are you?

#13

Post by rhn_mk1 » Wed, Dec 15, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

If it's factually wrong, or missing the point. Or if it's just attacking the parent.

I try not to downvote opinions, even if they are blatantly stupid. On the other hand, disagreeing in a clever way will earn an upvote from me.

Re: Ask HN: What kind of a downvoter are you?

#14

Post by Overtonwindow » Wed, Dec 15, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

I only downvote when the person's comment comes off as rude. Snark I can take, but rudeness, bombastic obtuseness, and just plain impoliteness will move me to downvote. The argument may have been supportive, but not with that attitude.

Re: Ask HN: What kind of a downvoter are you?

#15

Post by MrMan » Wed, Dec 15, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

I have been here for many years and cannot downvote, so if I disagree with something I have to make a comment disagreeing, which usually results in my comment getting downvoted so I never get any karma. Which is good, because poverty is cleansing.

Re: Ask HN: What kind of a downvoter are you?

#16

Post by MerelyMortal » Wed, Dec 15, 2021, 2:15 PM UTC

I can't downvote with this account yet, but with past accounts I downvote if:

- the comment contains information that I know is either factually incorrect, or

- is making bad assumptions.

I have upvoted comments I disagree with in the past because they were well-reasoned, good, thought-provoking comments.

Re: Ask HN: What kind of a downvoter are you?

#17

Post by emehex » Wed, Dec 15, 2021, 2:15 PM UTC

I've been a lurker for over 5 years and embarrassingly didn't realize there were downvotes on this site. Guess I still don't have enough "Karma" (?) ...

Re: Ask HN: What kind of a downvoter are you?

#18

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 15, 2021, 2:15 PM UTC

injb wrote: post #4

An interesting thing about HN downvoting is that it makes the comment disappear (for you) immediately. So downvoting = "I don't want to see/hear this" I sometimes reflexively downvote but when I see the comment collapse, it gives me pause and makes me think about my own motivations - do I really think that comment simply shouldn't appear for me, or do I just disagree with it? Even if I think it's ignorant or badly wr…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What kind of a downvoter are you?

#19

Post by Luc » Wed, Dec 15, 2021, 2:16 PM UTC

wruza wrote: post #7

injb wrote: post #4

An interesting thing about HN downvoting is that it makes the comment disappear (for you) immediately. So downvoting = "I don't want to see/hear this" I sometimes reflexively downvote but when I see the comment collapse, it gives me pause and makes me think about my own motivations - do I really think that comment simply shouldn't appear for me, or do I just disagree with it? Even if I think it's ignorant or badly wr…

This is yours-only collapse [-], not downvote. Downvoting is enabled at 500, afaik, I just upvoted you to 500 for you to see/test it :)

The mininum is 501 though :)

Re: Ask HN: What kind of a downvoter are you?

#20

Post by isoprophlex » Wed, Dec 15, 2021, 2:16 PM UTC

edmcnulty101 wrote: post #10

The worst is users with the ability to flag content. I have dead comments turned on and see a lot of well-made thought provoking comments that that are flagged because they are contrary to the popular narrative. On the other hand there are a lot of bad comments that deserve to be flagged so it's a double-edged sword.

I've resurrected quite a few of these; note that with flagging rights comes also the "vouch" button to keep the discourse more balanced.

Would be interested to learn the proportion of flagged:vouched comments.