Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask PG: Can we see the response to the HN changes?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 74 posts

Re: Ask PG: Can we see the response to the HN changes?

#41

Post by raganwald »

I'm delighted to see the end of comment scores, and if they are restored, I think i will hack HN for myself to remove them when I read comments.

I like having the community filter articles, but when it comes to a discussion, I like reading the arguments and deciding for myself. Scores do influence my expectations around what's important and what isn't.

Besides, there is already a filter in place for really bad comments. If something isn't at -5 or so, I really ought to give it the benefit of the doubts and read it.

Re: Ask PG: Can we see the response to the HN changes?

#42

Post by bane »

mcav wrote: post #34
bane wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be the content of the posts that matter not the point total.

Bluntly, I don't want to read every comment.

You don't have to. Highly voted comments are helpfully floated to the top of the thread or post. Just read a few at the top and you should be good to go.

Re: Ask PG: Can we see the response to the HN changes?

#45

Post by derefr »

Yzupnick wrote: post #30
davidw wrote: post #14

Where I could see things changing is higher highs and lower lows: previously I wouldn't downvote a well-intentioned but wrong comment below 0 or -1, but now I might because I don't know. Also, previously, I stopped voting up the first comment on an article if it already had a ton of votes, now I'm not so sure, so I might vote for it.

Why would you downvote a well-intentioned but wrong comment? If something is wrong, explain why it is wrong. Downvotes, I think, should be reserved for comments that are 1) pointless ex:"agree" or "great post" 2) mean ex: "How could you be so ignorant!" 3) Way off topic. Everything else should get ignored or warrants further discussion. In some cases it is even important to upvote "wrong" comments.

Downvoting is essentially the perscriptivist form of "should get ignored," as it moves things downward on the page (where fewer users are likely to find it before getting bored.)

Re: Ask PG: Can we see the response to the HN changes?

#46

Post by allwein »

davidw wrote: post #14

Where I could see things changing is higher highs and lower lows: previously I wouldn't downvote a well-intentioned but wrong comment below 0 or -1, but now I might because I don't know. Also, previously, I stopped voting up the first comment on an article if it already had a ton of votes, now I'm not so sure, so I might vote for it.

I don't think you should be downvoting well-intentioned but wrong comments anyway. I think a much better action is to reply with a comment that corrects the individual in a well intentioned way.

Besides, for a lot of things, what constitutes "wrong"?

Re: Ask PG: Can we see the response to the HN changes?

#47

Post by mixmax »

pg wrote: post #2

From a visual inspection things look the same as always.

from this users inspection things don't.

- I spend substantially more time wading through comments because I can't pick out the good ones. This is particularly true of nested threads.

- I often vote based on the current score. If the score is as the comment deserves (in my opinion) I leave it, otherwise I upvote. I rarely downvote.

- I can't pick out whether a comment is valid (based on scores, and thus the opinion of other users). For instance if a user writes in a comment that joshua schachter never invests in B2B startups I don't know how valid it is.

- When someone responds to a comment I like to see the votes. This is particularly useful when someone disagres with me - if the response gets a lot of upvotes I can be fairly certain I'm wrong. If I don't see the votes I won't know.

Besides, if we don't see scores they're not much good to users. My bet is that over time people will vote less, since they don't immediately see their impact anyway.

Re: Ask PG: Can we see the response to the HN changes?

#49

Post by 3am »

davidw wrote: post #35
Yzupnick wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you downvote a well-intentioned but wrong comment? If something is wrong, explain why it is wrong. Downvotes, I think, should be reserved for comments that are 1) pointless ex:"agree" or "great post" 2) mean ex: "How could you be so ignorant!" 3) Way off topic. Everything else should get ignored or warrants further discussion. In some cases it is even important to upvote "wrong" comments.

If someone states that it is their firm belief that the Earth does indeed sit at the center of the universe, with the sun revolving around it, I just can't agree with it, and think it should not be a highly rated comment. Same sort of deal when people are factually wrong, but aren't being a jerk about it: I don't think they should rate that highly, but I wouldn't likely vote them into negative territory either. And y…

Then don't upvote then, it's simple! Remember http://xkcd.com/386/

I always thought that the saving grace of /. was the metamoderation. People here downvote based on personal bias here frequently enough, and it would be nice to have the bad actors dinged for it. I'm not saying you do this, but it is done. Far better to have a highly upvoted correction.

Re: Ask PG: Can we see the response to the HN changes?

#50

Post by JangoSteve »

bane wrote: post #29
mcav wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With no indication of number of upvotes, though, there is no distinction between a 200-point comment on top versus a 2-point comment that happens to be on top. Sometimes it was easier to skip parts of a thread knowing approximately how many upvotes each post received.

It should be the content of the posts that matter not the point total.

I enjoy reading comment threads for subjects I know little about. Without the comment karma, I have no idea which comments are even valid, let alone valuable.
Post reply on HN