[autokad]

i agree with both you and stormbrew, if only there were another way. i personally dont like HN's system much either, one that ensures submitter can downvote those who disagree with them while the majority of readers cant down-vote back. also on HN, you commonly get down voted simply because they disagree with your opinion.

maybe the best way is to simply ditch the whole karma/popularity system all together. you can up a comments contribution to an article, but it ends there.

The person who got downvoted isnt stuck with a scarlet letter and put on probation to repair their 'karma' simply because they had a different way of looking at things.