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Votes, either up or down, are an expression of perceived value to the user. If I write something and you extend the time and effort to read it, then you will have an opinion of its merit based on your experience. Did I waste your time and effort? Did I make your time and effort worthwhile? A contrary point of view is can be very valuable when presented well, even if you happen to disagree. On the other hand, if one regurgitates an already well known, and hence stale, point according to the opinion of the given reader, reading will be a waste of time and effort from their perspective. Of course, the next person to come along may not know the point is tired and stale, and their perspective is the opposite. There is another important aspect of investment applicable to both the reader and the writer; you must sell your investment. If you bought an Apple product, and you found someone factually stating the mistakes Apple made in the NVRAM of a particular machine, you are naturally inclined to protect the value of your investment since you have an intrinsic need to justify your purchase, both to yourself and to everyone else. In more common terms, you're looking at "fanboyism" or even "advertisement," and it takes a very clear and careful mind to both know and disable your bias. Equally, when writing you are attempting to sell your words as worthwhile to the reader by some means (insight, humor, expertise, shock, horror, ...). The more interesting question is why you even bothered to write? Did you do it for karma? Did you have some unknown internal need to refute a point of contention? Did you want "respect"? Were you trying to "help"? Were you looking for something more exciting to do? Were you frustrated? Were you fascinated? Whether clearly admitted or not, there is a motive for every single post and submission on HN. Knowingly or not, today you seem to be selling your lament on being down-voted --with the hope of it happening less-- by bringing it to the attention of HN readers. Why did you write it? Why do you care about a few bits in a database? Why do you believe down-votes are a bad thing? Personally, I enjoy the feedback of getting down-voted. It's the only way I'll know that I wasted your time and mine. |