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Hacker News Guidelines

(news.ycombinator.com)
446 points tonmoy | 4 comments | 24 Aug 23 16:25 UTC | HN request time: 0.661s | source
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yjftsjthsd-h ◴[24 Aug 23 17:09 UTC] No.37251581[source]▶
The one thing I wish was added - either in the guidelines or as a change to the actual web UI - was replying to a comment that you're downvoting; it's frustrating both to have one's own comments downvoted without explanation, and to come across a comment that's grey without obvious reason (Was it factually incorrect? Endorsing an unpopular idea? It's not always obvious).

(I'm not saying HN should do exactly the same thing, but one example is Slashdot's system where a comment can get downvoted in a way that tags it specifically as trolling/offtopic/whatever - https://slashdot.org/faq/mod-metamod.shtml seems to describe it alright)

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1. codingdave ◴[24 Aug 23 17:46 UTC] No.37252205[source]▶
No, because that allows one person to double down on negativity - it can turn something grey and detract from the comment, both of which then bias future readers to read it negatively.

I'd go the other way - disallow downvoting if you comment, and disallow comments if you downvoted. You get one choice of how to indicate that you don't feel the comment is correct.

Admittedly, teaching people not to downvote just for disagreement would be better. Personally, I downvote a ton, but never for disagreement - I downvote for exactly the reasons I see in the guidelines: non-substantive comments. Or, admittedly, I also downvote people who are just being a jerk.

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2. freedomben ◴[24 Aug 23 17:54 UTC] No.37252318[source]▶
How do you then tell the commenter why you downvoted them? How are they supposed to improve without feedback?
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3. NoMoreNicksLeft ◴[24 Aug 23 18:10 UTC] No.37252507[source]▶
> Admittedly, teaching people not to downvote just for disagreement would be better.

That would be awesome were it possible. Got any special insight into how to do that? I don't have a problem doing so, 16 yrs on reddit, if I ever downvoted even 30 times total, I'd be shocked. Others I've talked to make it seem like that's a daily or at best weekly total for them...

I think the trouble is that people fear others seeing the comment. Downvoting is used as a technique to prevent that contamination. It betrays some sort of mistrust in others' intellects.

4. codingdave ◴[24 Aug 23 19:20 UTC] No.37253382[source]▶
That is a great question, but I feel that making the commenter go through the exercise of reflecting on what they said and trying to understand the possible reasons is just as much a driver to become a better community member as handing them an answer would be.