[gkya]

I don't like downvotes because people mostly downvote what they disagree, not spam and whatnot. Having some ideas and habits contrary to what's popular, I experience this first-hand here on HN. And probably this is a reflex, most often when one sees someone disagree him, he feels a spontaneous whim and thinks that his argument is not reasonable. And only after a bunch of seconds does he understand that the other one actually poses a sound argument, criticism, etc. The HN's upvote-downvote sytem lacks undo, so unfortunately when you regret a downvote, there's nothing to do.

[enraged_camel]

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect." -Mark Twain

I wonder how much karma Mark Twain would have if he had a Hacker News account...

Anyway, I, too, find downvoting very distasteful. IMO it should be reserved purely for low quality comments. When the crowd downvotes unpopular opinions, the place inevitably becomes an echo chamber, which is unquestionably harmful to honest, open debate and discussion.

[protomyth]

> I wonder how much karma Mark Twain would have if he had a Hacker News account...

My first thought was probably about as much as coldtea has. Lots of up votes and lots of down votes with the up votes winning.