Poll: I disagree with you, is it ok to downvote you? • Hacker News Board

Re: Poll: I disagree with you, is it ok to downvote you?

#61

Post by GFischer » Fri, Aug 08, 2014, 12:01 PM UTC

PeterWhittaker wrote: post #59

The missing options greatly lessen the validity of the poll, as you implicitly assume down-voting has its place. H) Never. I) Never; flag as inappropriate with a reason (sexism, rascism, spam - the list should be limited and must not include references to the intelligence of the poster or the post). I'm with Voltaire.

I don't know why you were downvoted.

The quote Peter alludes to is "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

Interestingly, it seems it's not a direct quote from Voltaire, rather a comment by S. G. Tallentyre summarizing his attitude:

http://www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/www_vf/about_voltaire/didnt_say...

"What Tallentyre wrote was: ... Voltaire forgave him all injuries, intentional or unintentional. ‘What a fuss about an omelette!’ he had exclaimed when he heard of the burning (of a book). How abominably unjust to persecute a man for such an airy trifle as that! ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,’ was his attitude now"

I agree with that attitude as well, I identified what I consider only two possibly valid reasons for downvoting, and I usually don't apply them (racism/sexism, which others say would be more appropriately flagged, and "cool story" useless comments, which I try not to flag either).

Re: Poll: I disagree with you, is it ok to downvote you?

#62

Post by PeterWhittaker » Fri, Aug 08, 2014, 12:26 PM UTC

GFischer wrote: post #61

PeterWhittaker wrote: post #59

The missing options greatly lessen the validity of the poll, as you implicitly assume down-voting has its place. H) Never. I) Never; flag as inappropriate with a reason (sexism, rascism, spam - the list should be limited and must not include references to the intelligence of the poster or the post). I'm with Voltaire.

I don't know why you were downvoted. The quote Peter alludes to is "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." Interestingly, it seems it's not a direct quote from Voltaire, rather a comment by S. G. Tallentyre summarizing his attitude: http://www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/www_vf/about_voltaire/didnt_say... "What Tallentyre wrote was: ... Voltaire forgave him all injuries, i…

At the risk of further karmaloss, I suspect the downvoting is because I contradict the HN echo chamber clique. There is a certain fanboi contingent that acts badly when it acts at all and that reacts badly indeed to any notion that perhaps, just perhaps, challenges closely held non-technical views.

Also, I'm an intellectual elitist and a bit of snob - but I always optimistically and naively hope that those with I engage are as well read, as critical, and as ignorant as I.

Rarely works out that way, but occasionally I learn something.

Re: Poll: I disagree with you, is it ok to downvote you?

#63

Post by sbierwagen » Fri, Aug 08, 2014, 2:11 PM UTC

slantyyz wrote: post #44

sbierwagen wrote: post #19

I draw a distinction between a person saying something I disagree with, ("I think variable foo should be 35%, not 34%") and a person being outrageously, astonishingly wrong . ("Solar roadways are a good idea." "Instagram is worth one billion dollars.")

>> outrageously, astonishingly wrong. ("Solar roadways are a good idea." "Instagram is worth one billion dollars.") I don't think I'd downvote your two examples, they just sound like opinions I'd politely disagree with. To me, outrageously, astonishingly wrong would be something like "the Holocaust didn't happen", "the moon landing was faked" or "Obama wasn't born in Hawaii".

I was trying to find opinions that weren't political, but were badly wrong. Your three examples fall mostly under the heading of Big Lies. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie)