[fromhet]

Why not have downvotes too?

If you ask me, upvotes-only (as here on HN) works great if post get hidden when x time goes by. But AFAIK links "value" will not devalue over time on TYTC and therefore the early submissions will get ahead by far, even if they are of lower quality than the links posted later on.

Downvoting does not mean bullying, and I cant imagine people will be afraid to publish links with the risk of getting a downvote or two.

But I may be wrong, and please point that out, HN!

EDIT: Also, I wouldnt mind if there was an adsense ad on the left side of the list. A small tower one that would not be in the users face. I'd turn off adblock for you!

[idupree]

Or have "value" exponentially decay over time (e.g. continuously & adding up to 50% decay per year. Which is equivalent to the value of a vote being 2^(year the vote is cast).)

[fromhet]

But that would need a constant growing userbase, otherwise new (and not neccesary better) would get a favor. In the system that 1 upvote === 1 point old links get a favor.

If upvote===1 point and downvote===-1 point old posts would get a head start (from being in the top lists) but it wouldnt be that hard for a competing link. Bad links would quite quickly get low rankings though.

An important thing to note is that this isn't a social news site (as reddit or HN) but a social link sharing site, and thusly doesnt need to have fresh link at the top, but only best links.