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The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

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Re: The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

#241
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Down voted you because of your about me.

I believe it's an honest assessment of the current state of HN.

I remember you because of the about me.

I was reading a somewhat controversial comment from you and then visited your account page probably to check for sibling comments in the same post. Your about me definitely changed how I feel about your comments and probably the source of your recent experience.

Re: The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slashdot got popular and the insightful comments got drowned out by Funny+5 because it's low effort karma building that feels like being popular. I learned my lesson and try to only inject humor into otherwise useful comments on HN.

This is one of those things that I did not realize kills discourse until I experienced a community that mainly posts serious content and discussion. Reddit now is particularly bad as each thread is sea of quips, one-liners, and trashtalk which pretty much floods out the pond of interesting discussion. "Funny" can be a great thing, but if that's all anyone ever tries to offer, it becomes very tiresome.

I agree. Cheap/stupid jokes mostly get downvoted here, and it's one of the things I like about HN!

Re: The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

#243
post #238
post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are static ips a common thing in the US? Here in Germany getting a fresh ip is as easy as restarting the router unless you explicitly pay for a static ip.

I'm not using a static IP, but heck they did it anyway. They might have even banned my device IDs (MAC IDs) or thing associated with my route. I don't like VPNs. They're a false sense of security, like Tor, and babies. I never trusted babies...

Just kidding about the babies, folks! They're no more a false sense of security than adults or adolescents!

Re: The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

#244
post #223
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just downvoting that makes HN strong, it's IP banning. Right now I'm commenting via a new user I created via my work VPN, because nothing on my home network is allowed to create new users on HN now or effectively comment, since I always did so using temporary accounts. I'm getting so much more done, so- thanks, HN!

Are static ips a common thing in the US? Here in Germany getting a fresh ip is as easy as restarting the router unless you explicitly pay for a static ip.

Static ips are not common, but ips that are technically dynamic but in fact rarely change are.

Re: The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

#245
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Down voted you because of your about me.

I believe it's an honest assessment of the current state of HN.

It's a bit passive aggressive, don't you think, to do drive-by insults of random strangers?

Re: The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be the change that you want to see in the universe. HN has a super easy to use API and I have downloaded the entire history of the site before for a past project. If you don't want to do the leg work yourself I am positive that the data set is out there for download somewhere if you google around.

Data analysis note: the public datasets only have submissions and comments, and just because a HN user has stopped submitting/commenting doesn't mean they quit HN. Lurking is fun.

And now, by commenting, you've reset your activity clock. Time to lurk for the next 6 months so you look inactive.

Re: The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Data analysis note: the public datasets only have submissions and comments, and just because a HN user has stopped submitting/commenting doesn't mean they quit HN. Lurking is fun.

Some people have simply changed their handle and that likely wouldn't be obvious from the public data set either. My old handle has 25k. It has been inactive since I moved to this one.

Curious, why did you create a new account?

Re: The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

#248
post #28

I would like the ability to see my ratio of upvotes to downvotes. I think it would help show me if I was applying the same zeal to promote ideas as I use to demote them.

Is there a reason to think that equality is important here? Could it be that promotion zeal should be e.g. 62% of demotion zeal?

It would be interesting to know if I am quicker to reward a good idea vs punish a bad one. No target in mind.

Re: The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

#249
post #225
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flagging is for spam, at least that what I use it for. I reserve my downvotes for conversational indecency: bad faith arguments, personal attacks, not acknowledging/engaging the parent post's points.

I'm not sure why spam should be treated any differently than conversational indecency (personal attacks, bad faith arguing); in theory it could all fall under the bucket of "this doesn't belong here", right?

To me the difference is "this user doesn't belong here, go away" versus "this post doesn't belong here, try harder".

Re: The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

#250

I used to read Coding Horror but stopped paying attention to Jeff Atwood after his anti-coding rant. He repeatedly insisted that "learning to code" is a really dumb thing to do unless you intend to make a career out of it. A really shocking opinion that I was surprised to hear from him, and made me lose all respect for his coding-related opinions.

I have no opinion of Atwood and am unfamiliar with his work. But a single opinion/rant made you lose all respect for a person?

I see this sentiment a lot on HN. The fatal opinion minefield.

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