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Ask PG: Are people getting more liberal with their downvotes?

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Re: Ask PG: Are people getting more liberal with their downvotes?

#61

Post by xlnt »

DaniFong wrote: post #34
xlnt wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you should care about the reasons behind votes, not the votes themselves.

How are you supposed to know the reasons behind the votes? Often times something of mine will get downvoted, and I'd like to address it, but I have no sense of what the problem is. I have to actively keep myself from deleting things that have received a quick negative response sometimes. I have an idea: limit the number of downvotes per user per day. If the want to downvote something else, something will have to fall…

if you don't know the reason for a vote, then you shouldn't feel bad about the vote, since you don't know, was my point. the parent said he cared about karma.

Re: Ask PG: Are people getting more liberal with their downvotes?

#63

Post by dusklight »

mlinsey wrote: post #5

"If I disagree with someone, I won't vote up. If I really disagree with someone, I'll post a rejoinder comment." I haven't been here very long but I've thought that expressing disagreement isn't the purpose of a downvote at all. Instead, it's meant to indicate that a post detracts from the discussion and probably shouldn't have been posted to begin with. Using downvotes to express disagreement would only result in di…

Here's the thing: In the real world, you WILL be attacked when you disagree with the status quo, sometimes perhaps literally.

If you can't even handle losing a point in an imaginary karma system that doesn't even matter, how are you going to handle the risk of losing a job, a contract, a girlfriend, for believing in something and standing up for your belief?

As hackers and entrepreneurs we should embrace conflict and challenge. Losing a karma point for dissing the iPhone is I am sure a lot easier to handle than getting punched in the face for supporting gay marriage. If you perhaps do not have the courage to even consider the possibility that there is something you believe strongly enough to get punched in the face for, maybe facing the constant possibility of downmodding will toughen you up at least a bit. I see the potential of getting downmodded for your beliefs as a growth opportunity, one that should be embraced and not stifled.

Re: Ask PG: Are people getting more liberal with their downvotes?

#64

Post by andresvi »

dhimes wrote: post #59
andresvi wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve noticed the same reaction. I’ve posted some comments that disagreed with others and I got downvoted – so it is really discouraging to disagree. I think that the solution here could be that next to karma there is courage section for people who are not afraid to disagree. There should also be something like “Karma Court” where respected guys from YC community decide if the post that got downvoted was plain stupid/…

I think you might be over-thinking this a bit! (uh-oh--here comes the Karma hit....)

You maybe right.
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