11–18 of 18 posts
I only see an upvote button, what gives?
I've heard it's the flat-rate karma of 500. I've also heard that it's a moving target based on how many users or how much karma is currently out in the world.
If it is calculated and not flat, it specifically hurts new users while giving older users more power.
I only see an upvote button, what gives?
You don't have enough karma to down vote. There isn't a specific place that tells one what that karma is and I don't have the answer since I still can not down vote either. I've heard it's the flat-rate karma of 500. I've also heard that it's a moving target based on how many users or how much karma is currently out in the world. If it is calculated and not flat, it specifically hurts new users while giving older use…
But I occasionally see downvoted comments that seem totally legitimate. If someone feels negatively about a comment (for reasons other than it being nonsense or off-topic), the mature thing to do is to explain their disagreement with the comment.
I agree that asking "why the downvote" is rarely productive. But downvoters should explain their point of view in addition to (or instead of) downvoting.
For me it's not the karma, it's the implication that my well-intentioned comment that was intended to add value has been considered by someone in "the community" to be the opposite, and to be of negative value. If that happens then there is a mis-match between my understanding and reality, and as a mathematician, engineer, hacker, and general learner for life, I want to know why. When people disagree with me it's an…
It does cause some problems with content, most notably bandwagons and mundane comments out of fear.
For me it's not the karma, it's the implication that my well-intentioned comment that was intended to add value has been considered by someone in "the community" to be the opposite, and to be of negative value. If that happens then there is a mis-match between my understanding and reality, and as a mathematician, engineer, hacker, and general learner for life, I want to know why. When people disagree with me it's an…
But there definitely is value in providing this feedback. I think the solution is to offer a quieter way of doing so than via a globally visible comment. This feedback should be public to maintain civility and concision, but should be outside of the main stream of the conversation.
My proposal is here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4209304
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not poor form. The Hacker News Guidelines state ( http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html ): Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. It is poor form to not abide by the house rules.
I said it was poor form to order people to modify their behaviour to match your particular preferences. The house rules mention complaining about downvotes. As you've found out, people are wanting to learn why they've been downvoted, they're trying to understand. That's not complaining.
Complaining about being downvoted earns a near-automatic downvote from me. It's the exact opposite of contributing something useful.
I hate it when I get downvoted, but I suck it up. Sometimes I knew it was coming, and sometimes it's only temporary and the comment ends up with a good score.
But regardless of how or why, I take it and move on.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't have enough karma to down vote. There isn't a specific place that tells one what that karma is and I don't have the answer since I still can not down vote either. I've heard it's the flat-rate karma of 500. I've also heard that it's a moving target based on how many users or how much karma is currently out in the world. If it is calculated and not flat, it specifically hurts new users while giving older use…
So a downvote button is an unlockable, interesting. Where did you learn this?