Ask HN: Is there a reason downvotes on HN don't require comments?
7 comments
If one is getting constatly downvoted means there are more people (here and now) on the HN community who disagree with your line of thinking. If that breaks your heart there will always be some other forum where the majority agrees.
If you are getting downvoted occasionally then there is not much to bother its part of life. There will always be ones who disagree. But adding comments to downvote will be piling up mess upon mess.
in case you got downvoted and you didnt mean to be a trouble maker, lets ignore and live happily together. In the end is HN a place where one seeks appraisals alone?
If you are getting downvoted occasionally then there is not much to bother its part of life. There will always be ones who disagree. But adding comments to downvote will be piling up mess upon mess.
in case you got downvoted and you didnt mean to be a trouble maker, lets ignore and live happily together. In the end is HN a place where one seeks appraisals alone?
A system that enforces comments can't enforce good comments.
That is in fact the purpose of downvoting :)
To help enforce good comments :)
Adding comments to downvotes would be a DISASTER.
It would mean that you would suffer through huge amounts of dumb comments before you would be able to tell the quality ones.
To help enforce good comments :)
Adding comments to downvotes would be a DISASTER.
It would mean that you would suffer through huge amounts of dumb comments before you would be able to tell the quality ones.
Well if your downvoting comment is bad it will get downvoted.
I can see that leading to a reddit style series of tangent sub-discussions.
> Is there a reason comments aren't required when downvoting?
Yes, downvoting exists to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, and adding more weight of comments attached to a low-value one does the opposite.
Yes, downvoting exists to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, and adding more weight of comments attached to a low-value one does the opposite.
Given the quality of HN comments, I am forced to support the current system.
What bothers me more is the greying out on the very first downvote (assuming no upvotes). Perhaps it should go grey after 3 downvotes at least.
Nope. They used to show the karma score next to the comment. Greying out is a signal to people that you were downvoted and can result in corrective upvotes.
Showing the karma score promoted nasty back-and-forths that would get the moderator dragged into it as people tried to score more points. So that isn't something the mods want on this forum. But not having any way to tell comments with a positive score from those with a negative would also be problematic.
I understand the frustration and the desire for some kind of constructive feedback. But as someone who does, at times, give people my opinion of what went wrong with their comment, more often than not, it doesn't help them and just comes back to bite me.
Downvotes on HN are kind of like democracy: The worst system ever -- except for all the others.
Showing the karma score promoted nasty back-and-forths that would get the moderator dragged into it as people tried to score more points. So that isn't something the mods want on this forum. But not having any way to tell comments with a positive score from those with a negative would also be problematic.
I understand the frustration and the desire for some kind of constructive feedback. But as someone who does, at times, give people my opinion of what went wrong with their comment, more often than not, it doesn't help them and just comes back to bite me.
Downvotes on HN are kind of like democracy: The worst system ever -- except for all the others.
Downvoting is pretty childish, really: moderators want to avoid wind-up merchants and rightly so but too many kids are just enjoying the ride.
Not this again! If you publish your opinion online you have to bear the critics / downvotes. Just get over it!
The world would be a very dull place if we all had the same opinion.