Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores

#11

Post by raganwald » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 2:10 PM UTC

jplewicke wrote: post #8

The only place I really miss having them is in older articles and on searchyc.com. I feel a much greater compulsion to engage each comment on its merit when voting and when reading, and I feel like reading HN has become more intellectually stimulating. However, this is more of a problem when I'm trying to assess information in areas that I'm not already familiar with. If I'm searching for information on which DNS pro…

ABSOLUTELY.

Comment scores in the midst of an active discussion narrow thinking. Comment scores on historical artifacts are useful for research.

Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores

#12

Post by carbocation » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 2:12 PM UTC

J3L2404 wrote: post #5

iamdave wrote: post #4

I found the comment scores a good motivation for thinking about what I'm typing before hitting that 'add comment' button. Good imperative to participate instead of troll. The opposite is true for others, I'm sure.

Adding +1, since you can't tell if the parent comment has been upvoted. EDIT: this -> parent comment

You can see your own comments' scores.

Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores

#13

Post by elbenshira » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 2:15 PM UTC

I wonder how Hacker Monthly (http://hackermonthly.com/) will pick out the "best" comments.

Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores

#14

Post by bzupnick » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 2:16 PM UTC

iterationx wrote: post #6

I like the new system. It discourages winning an argument with numbers. 20 people upvoted the previous comment so that guy must be right.

so why cant we start down voting with less karma, as opposed to now it being 500. so more people could counteract your issue. AND i think that if a comment has more upvotes, then they DID win the argument and that should be seen that they won.

Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores

#15

Post by shii » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 2:17 PM UTC

jplewicke wrote: post #8

The only place I really miss having them is in older articles and on searchyc.com. I feel a much greater compulsion to engage each comment on its merit when voting and when reading, and I feel like reading HN has become more intellectually stimulating. However, this is more of a problem when I'm trying to assess information in areas that I'm not already familiar with. If I'm searching for information on which DNS pro…

Exactly. Don't show scores for active threads if you want, but please, after x days or so, let the numbers show so searchyc can cache it correctly and people who come back to old threads have a sense of direction from the discussion.

Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores

#16

Post by uptown » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 2:17 PM UTC

I'd prefer a system that reveals the score of comments you've already either replied to, or voted on. Gives you some kind of feedback on where the rest of the community's mind is with regard to that comment.

Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores

#17

Post by scott_s » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 2:18 PM UTC

jplewicke wrote: post #8

The only place I really miss having them is in older articles and on searchyc.com. I feel a much greater compulsion to engage each comment on its merit when voting and when reading, and I feel like reading HN has become more intellectually stimulating. However, this is more of a problem when I'm trying to assess information in areas that I'm not already familiar with. If I'm searching for information on which DNS pro…

HN already has "modes" for comments. Comments that are two weeks old are in archive-mode: you can't reply to them. Displaying scores on such comments makes sense to me.

Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores

#18

Post by iterationx » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 2:18 PM UTC

bzupnick wrote: post #14

iterationx wrote: post #6

I like the new system. It discourages winning an argument with numbers. 20 people upvoted the previous comment so that guy must be right.

so why cant we start down voting with less karma, as opposed to now it being 500. so more people could counteract your issue. AND i think that if a comment has more upvotes, then they DID win the argument and that should be seen that they won.

I think you're missing the point. Logic wins arguments not upvotes.

Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores

#19

Post by RuadhanMc » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 2:23 PM UTC

Without the comment scores we're confronted with a wall of text that is hard to filter. Should I have to read every single comment just to find the gems? Comments scores have their downsides but they make filtering out noise much easier.

Unfortunately I don't think everyone has time to judge each comment on its own merits -- there are simply too many comments -- so we need a little crowd-sourced ranking. It does lead to some group think at times but that's a (relatively) small price to pay.

Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores

#20

Post by saturdayplace » Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 2:23 PM UTC

J3L2404 wrote: post #5

iamdave wrote: post #4

I found the comment scores a good motivation for thinking about what I'm typing before hitting that 'add comment' button. Good imperative to participate instead of troll. The opposite is true for others, I'm sure.

Adding +1, since you can't tell if the parent comment has been upvoted. EDIT: this -> parent comment

The author of a comment can tell if it's been upvoted - no one else. I really wouldn't like to see comment threads full of posts similar to yours; it lowers the signal:noise.