[unclebucknasty]

Interesting. I've often thought HN would be significantly better without downvoting. Seems it would discourage groupthink and, of course, eliminate the de facto censorship it effectively allows.

pg has an ongoing theme over on Twitter on the perils of groupthink. I find that ironic given that this very prominent platform that is associated with him encourages just that.

[tsegratis]

Agree with the sentiment, but my first HN comment was downvoted to good learning effect for me

Feel free to downvote this one :)

[unclebucknasty]

>my first HN comment was downvoted to good learning effect for me

Well, if that downvoting was for disagreement, then the lesson you would've learned is not to stray too far from the group's thinking.

>Feel free to downvote this one

You won't get a downvote from me. For some time I didn't downvote at all. If I issue an occasional downvote now it's for what I consider overt bad faith, but never for disagreement.

[meesterdude]

i've found downvotes are routers of (un)clear signals sent from noisy thinkers. They are a terrible guide for influencing your approach, argument or reasoning. Conversely, having someone comment and agree/disagree provides much more meaningful signal to grow and improve from.