[damnitbuilds]

"In order to vote something down, you need to give a reason."

THAT is what Hacker News needs ( and Reddit and Facebook and everywhere else ).

Because "Don't like the facts in your comment" is the reason for 90% of downvotes here.

[bell-cot]

Speaking as a regular HN downvotee, I'd say "don't like your facts" accounts for at most 25% of downvoting.

Sure, you can always make a moderation system more complex. At best, that will somewhat reduce the complaints. At the cost of both the added complexity, and all the new-and-undesirable ways in which humans users can interact with that shiny new complexity.

[Rochus]

Rather remove the downvote function completely, because it is mostly misused and stimulates the "lower instincts" of people.