[Fluda3]

Why on earth are both of you getting downvoted so hard?

I am so tired of reading hacker news articles with comments that are so pushed down because of subjective opinionated voting that is so obviously skewed towards one personality type.

I have so many thoughts and opinions I want to contribute to these discussions but I have zero confidence it will fit within this type of environment that's been created.

It really saddens me to see some of the comments that get downvoted here.

[jwdunne]

I agree. My voting policy reflects: I reserve down vote for comments that worsen the quality of discussion. Examples are rude or dismissive comments that fail to address any point in the OPs comment or article.

At its worst, I've seen people get down voted for asking beginner level questions. The calibre of folk who post here can, by its nature, make commenting a nervous activity. Getting down voted for trying to expand your knowledge is both harmful and wrong.

If I see a comment down voted without the above properties, I up vote to neutralise whether I agree or not. If the comment contributes to debate or discussion, it should be valued. I know I value alternate perspectives.

[skewart]

I completely agree. I do the same thing for subjectively downvoted posts. I want HN to be a place where people share all kinds of ideas and ask questions at any level.

[madgar]

pg believes downvoting is an appropriate expression of disagreement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171

[jwdunne]

I'm not sure there's an awareness the effect a down vote can have on someone new here. I remember when I made a comment after joining and it got a down vote. I didn't comment for about 6 months.

The fact that down votes are silent makes things worse. Great, you've been down voted. Why? Ask why, down vote again. It's almost a recipe for gradual shaping to conformity of group opinion for anyone who wants to participate here. It can then come across as say these things, don't say these things and you'll be sailing.

I don't know, perhaps an explanatory comment should be encouraged so that real education happens. Otherwise its almost Pavlovian in nature, especially for the less confident and highly anxious.

[skewart]

That's fine. I think most of the HN community disagrees with him on that.

Given the way HN is designed (comments are ranked, low scores get grayed out, user karma scores are visible) if people downvote to express disagreement it would worsen the experience of reading comments, and, I suspect, the overall conversation.

[lucio]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11273354

[finalight]

this is why i hardly commment on hackernews even when I give constructive feedback; simply people here are mostly childish

[BogusIKnow]

Yes, HN is an intolerant place. Have an opinion and you're downvoted. I have some sock puppets because of this and don't care for any downvote.