
Welcome to Hacker News - tomkwok
https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html
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lukeqsee
> Empty comments can be ok if they're positive. There's nothing wrong with
> submitting a comment saying just "Thanks."

I've noticed downvotes recently on these style of comments. Like the above
states, I think it's important we do not discourage the basic civility of a
"thank you".

Edit: I think this is of particular import on comment threads, not
submissions. I agree with s_dev and edpichler that an upvote is similar enough
to a "thank you" to render the later unnecessary. However, my key point
remains that _downvoting_ a neutral comment is not the proper way to address
it. Perhaps I'm wrong?

~~~
pluma
I think the concern is mostly having the comments overwhelmed by "Me
too"/"Thank you"/"+1" comments. Appreciation is welcome, swamping interesting
content in empty comments less so.

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rugatelstvo
But it also creates a community of enforcers of trivial rules who never
contribute anything outside that. Good example of that is mathstackexchange.
There are users on there whose sole existence on that site is to remove
"thank-you"s from the questions.

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lmm
The reason that's a problem is because mathstackexchange rewards people for
moderating. HN doesn't (as far as I know) reward people for downvoting, so
you're not going to get people downvoting thank-yous so they can get more
internet points.

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briandear
If I had had the chance to both win mathstackexchange AND the Internet.. The
resultant joy would be so profoundly overwhelming that I would probably have
to leave the grid and start a sustainable kale juicing company.

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blubbi2
Thanks (for submitting this).

~~~
tomkwok
You're welcome. I actually didn't pay much attention to the welcome message
when I signed up for HN and I just (re-)discovered it.

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solve
Let's be introspective. Was the "be civil" experiment really a success? Is it
really the specific words that matter, or how the words make the other person
feel that matters most?

I'd contrast this approach with e.g. Product Hunt's community standards, where
you're expected to be inclusive, make others feel good, and try to work as a
group of makers who are "all in it together" instead of constantly arguing and
putting each other down. Little mention of civility of the message delivery is
mentioned at all - it's all about how the message affects the other person.

I know I'll get flack for saying this here, but I've found PH's approach to
make far more sense and be 1000x better in practice.

(By the way, last I checked, I'm still ranked-banned for pointing out YC's
reversal on their stance about board members, so this comment will stay at the
bottom of the page no matter how you vote. - Edit, or the comment will tie for
bottom of the page, along with the other rank-banned and dead users.)

~~~
scott_s
> I'm still ranked-banned for pointing out YC's reversal on their stance about
> board members

I am deeply skeptical of this belief. I do not believe such a thing exists,
and there are alternate explanations for the behavior you are seeing (other
top-level comments have more points).

~~~
solve
How skeptical? How much BTC will you, or anyone, be willing put down on either
of these:

1) Just bet me that it's not real, and I'll give you some very strong
evidence.

2) How about I write a web-app that exposes HN's rank-banning - who's getting
rank-banned and what for. You'd be surprised at how it's being used. I found a
way of proving it that I'm sure you'll agree is quite accurate, for cases
where this approach can be used.

:)

Edit:

Re: lucb1e, the reason is that I'm far from being the only person who's rank-
banned / dead here. Sometimes several comment in the same thread.

Re: scott_s, Hey man, no need to insult me. If you don't want to see the hard
evidence, then I won't show it to you. Don't worry.

~~~
lucb1e
Looking at one of your most recent comments, it's not at the bottom of the
page. And besides, if you're broke, perhaps betting is not the best thing to
do.

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philh
I looked too, and solve's comments all seemed to be either at the bottom, or
below every comment that wasn't downvoted or dead. Do you have a
counterexample?

I think it's reasonably likely that rank-banning is real and that solve is
rank-banned. I think it's unlikely that ve was rank-banned _for pointing out
YC 's reversal on their stance about board members_; but plausible that ve was
rank-banned for other reasons, in a comment where ve did that.

~~~
lucb1e
> or below every comment that wasn't downvoted

That could be yeah, but he isn't stuck at dead-bottom.

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JupiterMoon
Nothing on shilling?

