I like the new system. It discourages winning an argument with numbers. 20 people upvoted the previous comment so that guy must be right.
This is spot on. It encourages continuing the discussion even if the other side has support of its fan club.
Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores
81–90 of 172 posts
Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores
#82I really like the lack of comment scores. Things are still sorted, so the cream floats to the top, and it made me realize I felt group-impulses based on the score. Now, there is little to no incentive to one-up someone, and I don't consider people refuted based on their score, but rather based on what I think of their comment. That last part has nurtured my curiosity, I find myself exploring thoughts I didn't on the…
This is my dilemma, and based on pg's recent poll may be part of why that vote was split. Basically, I feel that I'm interacting more intelligently but receiving less value from the conversation. I feeling that I am contributing differently, assessing comments more on merit and adding my own thoughts less. I'm certainly voting on comments less (both up and down). But I find I lack context in many of those discussions…
How do you vote down?
Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores
#83I like the lack of comment scores (to avoid everyone piling on one comment), but I think I would like it more if I knew what went into how high a comment was on the page. Is it a fact that the first displayed comment will be the one with the highest score? I know some different inputs are used, such as the karma of the submitter, how new it is, etc. but I guess we don't know "for sure". I don't think the solution is…
> I'd be more likely to read a comment with a score of 95% than one with a score of 20%.
Seconding this idea, I really love it. The biggest problem with a linear point count is the large dependency on a comment's visibility and number of impressions, which in turn leaves posters competing for that as much as for inherent comment quality. The implementation would be up for discussion, maybe something like show a comment's positive percentage once it garners a sample size of 5 or 10 votes, and maybe round off to the nearest 10% so you can't triangulate back to the actual score from the change inflicted by your single vote.
Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores
#84I would make it an option.
Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores
#85I understand the minimalist theme at HN, but would a simple toggle switch to show/hide comment scores be a terribly bad idea? These could be set by logged in users (wouldn't apply to drive-by or anon users).
Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores
#86People can be wrong about things, and comment scores are useful information that helps us know if they are. "that is not how mysql works" with 2 Points And "that is not how mysql works" with 102 points Are not the same piece of info. I don't see any benefit to hiding this from people. It also helps newbies understand the customs here (they can get feedback on other people's comments) edit now that I'm not on my phone…
Start with the assumption all comments are wrong; after all there's no absolute truth. The scores are a measure of popularity, which is often right and sometimes wrong. Plus everyone is entitled to an opinion. I don't think scores help anything, it's a measure of someones self-righteousness that i 'd rather not have. It's enough that unpopular opinions float to the bottom, where they belong. If anything i'd suggest t…
>> It's enough that unpopular opinions float to the bottom, where they belong.
Unpopular opinions are exactly what make the conversation interesting. While not every unpopular opinion is necessarily valid, it's fair to say that on many occasions the "unpopular" viewpoint is both valid, and often correct.
But regardless of the correctness of the opinion, it is the unpopular viewpoint which makes us stop, think about, and then articulate our own viewpoint.
Now wouldn't it be ironical if this very comment is deemed unpopular?
Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
But two comments with equal points given at different times on the same thread are likely not equally informative; the newer one had fewer impressions but receiving the same points has a higher points to views ratio. Part of the problem with points is that people try to use them like you are -- to gauge agreement for correctness, or who 'won' a discussion or whatever -- but points are a really crappy indicator of tha…
>> Points should be normed by impressions, and then smoothed (or given credibility intervals or something). While technically you're right, that seems like taking a really simple idea and making it really complicated. Comment scores act as a "trend" of what people are thinking - it's not like a football game where the highest score wins. If I see a discussion it's useful to see a) how many people care enough to bothe…
And yet clearly people do compare scores.
The problem is that scores aren't like trends; they're like integrating a 'popularity' measure over time. As a consequence, you get a strong bias towards the stuff with the most points being comments from near the beginning of the discussion, not what's most correct or interesting or insightful.
Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Adding +1, since you can't tell if the parent comment has been upvoted. EDIT: this -> parent comment
The author of a comment can tell if it's been upvoted - no one else. I really wouldn't like to see comment threads full of posts similar to yours; it lowers the signal:noise.
Obviously it would be terrible if everyone posted 'I agree' comments, that's the point. Numbers show the viewers sentiment towards a comment without clogging the thread.
Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores
#89I think a middle ground would be good. I understand the reasons for dropping comments scores but it makes it harder for me to get a quality experience out of the site and easily find the information I need. The scores mean something to me.
I liked someone's suggestion of basing the comment score on "upvotes per view" so older comments don't dominate, and I also like the idea of using a dark-to-light gradient (dot) instead of a concrete number.
Just sorting to the top (kinda) really just makes it hard to wade in, and makes me less likely to take a look at a topic I know little about and would like to see a couple of definitive words on it. It may be groupthink to some extent but this is a damn smart group.
Re: Tell HN: Please bring back comment scores
#90I'm struggling to understand why you need comment scores to know what to think about something. I can make up my mind about a comment's quality using the info available to me right now.
Let's take the oft-repeated example in other comments: two comments on MySQL, one with a handful of points and the other with a lot of points. There are a number of indicators of comment quality:
>> comment sorting works very well
>> if a low-vote comment is controversial, you will surely find spirited discussion below it--the volume of discussion would be an indicator of community disagreement
>> hit up Stack Overflow and find out if MySQL works as stated in the low-vote comment or if it works like the high-vote comment describes.
The arguments for visible points boil down to "I don't know how to think about this statement, so I need external confirmation." Indicators of comment quality still exist, and karma gamesmanship looks like it has decreased a lot. Finally, you really want to avoid groupthink--hiding scores accomplishes that pretty well.