[PeterWhittaker]

All good points!

I'm curious why you chose to downvote rather than reply and advise?

I'm not trying to bait you, just trying to understand.

(Full disclosure: I think this is another flaw in the whole downvote concept - it provides us a way to make us feel we have registered a contrary opinion without requiring that we take the time to offer - and, if necessarily, defend - the counter thought. There have been quite a few times I've started a reply only to abandon it when I realized what I was signing on for. My thoughts are not so important I feel the need to register them at any cost. Of course, there have been a few times when I have blazed along righteously only to regret a few minutes later, and have been noticeable in my absence from subsequent discussion. But those aren't quite as frequent. I hope.)

[S4M]

Well, I downvoted him after reading your comment, so I thought I might as well explain it in your response.

Now, jacquesm's reply is making me regret my downvote.

Also, I agree with what you think about downvotes. I think HN should have a detector of potentially stupid comments (e.g "u re a fag") that could be downvoted without giving a reason, and the rest (comments similar to skidoo's comment) could be downvoted only after giving an explanation.

[PeterWhittaker]

You know what's ironic? I gained downvote privileges today.

Partly as a result of this discussion.

MOi ha ha ha... uh oh.

;-P

(A quick search reveals no FF extensions to disable downvoting. I guess I could put rotate180 in user.js....)