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Tell HN: Don't ask for upvotes

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Tell HN: Don't ask for upvotes

#51

Post by bl4hblahblat »

What gets me is that unless you are really interested in GO, Haskell, dislike Microsoft, think you can write a real encrypted instant messaging system in JavaScript crypto, and have a libertarian leaning you will never have enough karma/points to downvote other people.

It encourages group think in the extreme.

Also, at around 180 gold stars/dingles it just stops.

I mean seriously...there is a vast amount of consensus around a set of things here that are just impermeable. Yes I have read "the approach to comments" and it sounds like you guys think that "resisting decline" means everyone basically has the same opinion but everyone gets to restate it to each other in "civil" and interesting ways.

EDIT: You also have to really be into crypto-currency...it also helps if you mention hayek while talking about it. You rebel.

Re: Tell HN: Don't ask for upvotes

#52

Post by jfoster »

bl4hblahblat wrote: post #51

What gets me is that unless you are really interested in GO, Haskell, dislike Microsoft, think you can write a real encrypted instant messaging system in JavaScript crypto, and have a libertarian leaning you will never have enough karma/points to downvote other people. It encourages group think in the extreme. Also, at around 180 gold stars/dingles it just stops. I mean seriously...there is a vast amount of consensus…

Is downvoting other people an important part of HN, though? It's important that someone is doing it responsibly to keep things clean, but upvoting gems and adding value to discussion through intelligent comments seem like they would be far more valuable activities for HN.

Re: Tell HN: Don't ask for upvotes

#53

Post by vacri »

rickyc091 wrote: post #18
aikah wrote: post #8

What does count as a voting ring? If I post a link to HN on twitter and people upvote the submission coming from twitter,does it count as a voting ring?

It's probably better to up vote from the feed. When you click on a link from the feed, you're generally going directly to the article. You hit the browser back button to get back to hackernews; chances are if the article seemed interesting, you would then hit the up vote button. When's the last time you hit the up vote button on a comment page?

Almost all my upvotes come from the comments page. If an article looks interesting, it gets opened in one tab, followed by the comments page to see what people said about it. Look at the article, then go to the comments, may as well upvote whilst there.

Re: Tell HN: Don't ask for upvotes

#54

Post by bl4hblahblat »

jfoster wrote: post #52
bl4hblahblat wrote: post #51

What gets me is that unless you are really interested in GO, Haskell, dislike Microsoft, think you can write a real encrypted instant messaging system in JavaScript crypto, and have a libertarian leaning you will never have enough karma/points to downvote other people. It encourages group think in the extreme. Also, at around 180 gold stars/dingles it just stops. I mean seriously...there is a vast amount of consensus…

Is downvoting other people an important part of HN, though? It's important that someone is doing it responsibly to keep things clean, but upvoting gems and adding value to discussion through intelligent comments seem like they would be far more valuable activities for HN.

Well, that's kind of my point. You are at the mercy of people who disagree with you if you are in the minority. If you disagree with the consensus you will be downvoted to the point that you can't be seen anymore.

I think that differing views add value.

Having contrary opinions just disappear so that everyone can keep restating the same thing to each other is really frustrating.

EDIT: Clarification...

Re: Tell HN: Don't ask for upvotes

#55

Post by bryanlarsen »

james33 wrote: post #3
gus_massa wrote: post #2

I usually read the newest page, but usually it has a lot of 1-point stories, and many of them are almost-spam or almost-dupe. Another user proposed a newest page with a >2-points filter (someone else think that it’s interesting). See for example http://hnapp.com/filter/d3a308f2ac9a071c0bf174e0c1a8fd22

How does anything get on that list then if nobody ever sees the 1-point submission (without asking for votes).

A link gets a point every time it is submitted. So it's quite possible for a link to get more than 1 point without the link ever being seen.

Text submissions would be stuck at 1 point, though.

Re: Tell HN: Don't ask for upvotes

#56

Post by vacri »

bl4hblahblat wrote: post #51

What gets me is that unless you are really interested in GO, Haskell, dislike Microsoft, think you can write a real encrypted instant messaging system in JavaScript crypto, and have a libertarian leaning you will never have enough karma/points to downvote other people. It encourages group think in the extreme. Also, at around 180 gold stars/dingles it just stops. I mean seriously...there is a vast amount of consensus…

Your own biases are showing. I am interested in none of those things, not even the bits in your edit (and in particular, think that libertarianism is damagingly naive), yet I accrue a few votes here and there. I have plenty of karma. Seriously, the downvote mechanism is overrated anyway, and is one of the most poorly implemented features of HN - if you're using access to that as a yardstick for value on the site, I'd suggest reviewing your expectations.

Re: Tell HN: Don't ask for upvotes

#58

Post by bl4hblahblat »

vacri wrote: post #56
bl4hblahblat wrote: post #51

What gets me is that unless you are really interested in GO, Haskell, dislike Microsoft, think you can write a real encrypted instant messaging system in JavaScript crypto, and have a libertarian leaning you will never have enough karma/points to downvote other people. It encourages group think in the extreme. Also, at around 180 gold stars/dingles it just stops. I mean seriously...there is a vast amount of consensus…

Your own biases are showing. I am interested in none of those things, not even the bits in your edit (and in particular, think that libertarianism is damagingly naive), yet I accrue a few votes here and there. I have plenty of karma. Seriously, the downvote mechanism is overrated anyway, and is one of the most poorly implemented features of HN - if you're using access to that as a yardstick for value on the site, I'd…

I accrued 188 points on my last account before it just stopped, like I was invisible...so I logged in with another account and couldn't even see my other posts.

I'm not saying that I want to downvote people...I'm saying that you haven't been downvoted into oblivion because you don't disagree with people.

Start commenting with a contrary opinion and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Also..."Your own biases are showing" might sounds like a reasonable and measured thing to say to someone, when you say it to yourself in your head, but its not. Somehow the rest of you have no bias?

And are you saying that I should ignore conservations that I disagree with to protect my votes...??? That's exactly what I was saying happens here. It's a self censorship that leads to this massive amount of consensus on everything from posts to comments.

Re: Tell HN: Don't ask for upvotes

#59

Post by gjm11 »

bl4hblahblat wrote: post #51

What gets me is that unless you are really interested in GO, Haskell, dislike Microsoft, think you can write a real encrypted instant messaging system in JavaScript crypto, and have a libertarian leaning you will never have enough karma/points to downvote other people. It encourages group think in the extreme. Also, at around 180 gold stars/dingles it just stops. I mean seriously...there is a vast amount of consensus…

I have never written a line of Go, and have only a casual acquaintance with Haskell. I'm not a Microsoft fan but spend approximately zero HN time bashing them. I would not attempt to write any sort of crypto anything in Javascript. I am not a libertarian. I am slightly interested in crypto-currency but have never owned any. I think Hayek is way overrated.

My karma score is approaching 8000, and I promise it's enough to downvote other people.

I dare say there is some groupthink on HN. There is groupthink everywhere where like-minded people congregate. But I've seen a very wide range of ideas treated with respect here, and pretty much the same very wide range of ideas treated with contempt, depending on who happens to be reading and responding.

Re: Tell HN: Don't ask for upvotes

#60

Post by bl4hblahblat »

bl4hblahblat wrote: post #51

What gets me is that unless you are really interested in GO, Haskell, dislike Microsoft, think you can write a real encrypted instant messaging system in JavaScript crypto, and have a libertarian leaning you will never have enough karma/points to downvote other people. It encourages group think in the extreme. Also, at around 180 gold stars/dingles it just stops. I mean seriously...there is a vast amount of consensus…

And so now i'm being downvoted, because you know...disagreement isn't cool.

How can I save this...Who wants to talk about Rust? Huh? Anybody? Bitcoin? That god damn NSA? Amirite?

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