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The Value of Downvoting, or, How Hacker News Gets It Wrong

(blog.stackoverflow.com)
61 points Anon84 | 6 comments | 09 Mar 09 05:11 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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pg ◴[09 Mar 09 05:37 UTC] No.507970[source]▶
The reason HN doesn't need downvotes is that HN, unlike Reddit, kills lame articles. On Reddit, users need downvotes as a way of saying an article is lame. Downvoting is the only way you can get a (nonspam) submission off the frontpage. But on HN you can flag it and if it's bad the editors will kill it.

We can thus safely assume a nonlame set of articles, and we also (so far at least) assume nonlame voters. And if you only have nonlame voters voting on nonlame articles, upvotes should be enough to pick the winners.

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codinghorror ◴[09 Mar 09 05:59 UTC] No.507981[source]▶
> The reason HN doesn't need downvotes is that HN, unlike Reddit, kills lame articles.

Honest question, and I do not mean this as a flame, because generally I quite enjoy Hacker News.

How, exactly, is the current top-rated story on HN, "How to Stop the Drug Wars" ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=507509 ) related to.. news of hacking?

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wfarr ◴[09 Mar 09 06:06 UTC] No.507989[source]▶
Hacker News isn't so much just about programming, but things that are interesting to programmers. It's entirely possible that the programmers that visit HN are interested in that topic.
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codinghorror ◴[09 Mar 09 06:09 UTC] No.507995[source]▶
Regardless, I think it's a terrible story for a site about programming topics, and I would absolutely vote it down.

But I can't.

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gruseom ◴[09 Mar 09 06:21 UTC] No.508006[source]▶
This isn't "a site about programming topics". Read the guidelines. Or even just the comment you were replying to.
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codinghorror ◴[09 Mar 09 06:34 UTC] No.508029[source]▶
Are you and I reading the same guidelines?

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports,

Isn't "How to stop the drug wars" about politics? I know it is exactly the kind of article I expect to find on Reddit. I was surprised to see it on the front page here. From the linked article:

> That is the kind of promise politicians love to make. It assuages the sense of moral panic that has been the handmaiden of prohibition for a century. It is intended to reassure the parents of teenagers across the world. Yet it is a hugely irresponsible promise, because it cannot be fulfilled.

This is not an article about politics?

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rms ◴[09 Mar 09 06:43 UTC] No.508040[source]▶
"most"

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=507890

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codinghorror ◴[09 Mar 09 06:57 UTC] No.508061[source]▶
Isn't this exactly why downvoting should be a bit more prevalent than it is now? For marginally topical (and in my opinion completely off-topic) political stories like that?

Right now only the people who upvote it get to have a say.

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1. lacker ◴[09 Mar 09 07:24 UTC] No.508088{5}[source]▶
The drug story is actually some really intelligent analysis by the Economist. It is not the sort of garbage you get on Reddit.
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2. codinghorror ◴[09 Mar 09 11:11 UTC] No.508237[source]▶
I totally respect the Economist, but are they really saying something about the pointlessness of the drug war that I haven't heard a thousand times over already? Furthermore does it belong on a site devoted primarily to programming topics?

What next, some really intelligent analysis of Ron Paul?

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3. axod ◴[09 Mar 09 13:45 UTC] No.508372[source]▶
"An analysis of the 10 most prevalent lolcat photos, and what makes them entertaining".
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4. lacker ◴[09 Mar 09 14:34 UTC] No.508431[source]▶
Yes, it does belong here, because it's interesting, and it's not like Hacker News is flooded with drug stories. It's okay to have the occasional off-topic article if it's one of the best of its genre.

There have also been intelligent, interesting stories about Ron Paul on Hacker News. For example this one ;-)

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=76469

5. trickjarrett ◴[09 Mar 09 14:53 UTC] No.508461[source]▶
It seems it does based on the voting. We also had a post by Tim Ferriss on the top of the page for nearly two days last week, not programmer specific but it was enjoyed / hated and had a good discussion going on about it.

This site is vastly related to programming and startups, but other topics that are of interest and thought provoking tend to rise up as an interest.

We don't have kittens on the front page, so I consider it a victory.

6. unalone ◴[09 Mar 09 20:54 UTC] No.509039{3}[source]▶
Man, I know you were joking, but suddenly I feel that a psychological/humor-driven analysis of popular memes might be a fascinating article to read/write.