
Ask HN: Why Do You Downvote? - itchyjunk
I have been curious about how other people parse their way through HN. I think new accounts can&#x27;t even downvote. It is common to see people ask about the downvotes even though the second last rule on the guideline [0] says not to question it.<p>I try to not downvote to disagree. I downvote misinformation, statements that are egressive towards a person and not the point they are making, responses that say &quot;This.&quot;.<p>[0] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;newsguidelines.html
======
KindOne
>I think new accounts can't even downvote

You need 501 karma for downvoting, that exact number is undocumented on the
FAQ page.

[https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-
undocumented/blob/m...](https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-
undocumented/blob/master/README.md#downvoting-comments)

For anyone else that curious about undocumented stuff, here are some previous
discussions with that github link.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16437973](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16437973)
(Feb 2018)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19212822](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19212822)
(Feb 2019)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20292361](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20292361)
(June 2019)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23439437](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23439437)
(June 2020)

------
codingdave
I downvote egregious misinformation, but not honest mistakes. A correction in
a comment is more appropriate in those cases. Disagreement and differing
opinions do not get downvotes from me - they are part of what makes the
discussions interesting. But comments that are actively rude or try to take
people down a peg do get my downvote. So do people who clearly are just
pushing a personal agenda unrelated to the current discussion. I sometimes try
to picture the comments as a real conversation... if you would have said the
same thing in a group sitting together real life, would that have been a
comment that fit into the conversation? Or would it make the group give you a
'WTF?' look and slowly back away?

At the same time, when I receive downvotes, most of the time they are correct
- if I post a comment when I'm in a bad mood, my tone gets snarkier and I get
downvoted more often. And that is fair. So I tend to just accept them, move
on, and try to be more aware of my communication habits in the future.

------
Grumbledour
The one thing I don't like is when comments become "dead", which I understand
happens after too many downvotes.

The reason I dislike this, is that besides obviously racist or otherwise
inappropriate comments, there are regularly normal seeming comments that are
dead. Now, there may be reasons for this I am just not privy to, but I feel it
hinders discussion when some opinions that don't seem problematic are just
silenced like this.

[Edit]: And rereading my own comment, I think I want to clarify that I am not
talking about free speech issues or political discussions here, but I
regularly encounter factual seeming or explanatory comments in technical
discussions that are dead and it just baffles me.

~~~
Jtsummers
When you see a dead comment that you feel shouldn't be, vouch for it. With a
couple of vouches it'll become live again and can be responded to.

Usually when I see a perfectly good, but dead, comment I check out the user's
history. I usually see one of two situations here:

1\. It's clear that they have a pattern of making nasty, off-topic, often
vulgar comments. I'll still vouch for their good comments, but at least I can
understand why they were dead to begin with.

2\. If their history is of mostly normal comments except one bad joke at the
start of their posting history that got them hell banned, then I'll vouch for
them and let them know what's happened.

~~~
Grumbledour
Thanks, that's actually a good point.

I knew there was an option to vouch for comments but just assumed I did not
have enough Karma to do so. But another comment in this discussion mentioned
the "hidden" flag button, which you only see if you click the comments
timestamp.

And sure enough, the vouch button is just there. So the problem may just be
that you have to know where to find it. Which I now do. And hopefully everyone
who didn't and reads this now as well.

~~~
happytoexplain
I suspect the intention was to create a small barrier to entry for the
"heavier" features, to reduce petty usage. It only takes a little exploration
to find (no offense, I didn't know about them for a while either).

------
wcerfgba
I view downvotes as an incomplete feature. If you disagree with some content
-- because it is misinformation, or useless, or maybe you just disagree with
the argument -- you should be able to explain what's wrong with it. I would
much rather have a system where a downvote required a reason, so instead of a
downvote it would be more like a comment which can also -1 / 0 / +1 the karma
of the parent.

~~~
kube-system
The downvote button is not a disagree button. If you disagree with something,
add your own comment. That's the point of a discussion board.

Downvotes are for comments which are not worthy of a response because they are
not honest attempts at discussion.

~~~
hirundo
> The downvote button is not a disagree button.

That's wishful thinking. In practice that's just what it is. I'd be in favor
of some magical gui change that would fix that, but it doesn't exist.

~~~
kube-system
There are some GUI features that address this. For instance, there is no
downvote button if you reply to someone, or if they reply to you. But
ultimately, the use of the button is up to the community.

------
orliesaurus
A lot of times I decide not to contribute because I am afraid of being
downvoted into the abysss, usually all it takes, is one reply to interpret my
own comment wrongly or assuming things I don't specificy. Then the HN readers
will read my comment and the disagreeing reply. At this point, I get downvoted
(or upvoted) based on the interpretation of my comment by the reply.

So if I don't spend 20minutes making sure my reply is perfect, I will get
downvoted.

Let's see if I get downvoted here too, as I wrote this on the go without
checking all my facts.

~~~
Grumbledour
So, out of curiosity: Why do you care if you get downvoted? Are there negative
repercussions when using the site?

But you know, making sure your post is factual correct, nicely worded and
thought out seems to be a good consequence. Reading that I actually wish I was
afraid of downvotes so I put more effort into some of mine.

~~~
NameDoesntExist
If you use HN pseudonymously, then downvotes aren't as impactful.

But if you use HN as a funnel for brand building, talent acquisition, or as an
authoritative voice for your company, then they can be costly.

~~~
orliesaurus
^ This, especially if you want to get somewhere near Ycomb in the future!

------
nscalf
I downvote primarily bad faith arguments. If I disagree, think you’re wrong,
etc I tend to respond (or upvote quality responses).

For instance, I downvoted a comment yesterday that said something along the
lines of “you can get a cs degree and spend your life optimizing a companies
ad revenue, or you can go into physics and work on problems like this”
referring to an alternative gravity model passing some early tests for
feasibility.

Obviously not all cs degree holders work on ad revenue, some work on
important, impactful things. And I personally know physics majors who work on
designing plumbing systems for a small company renovating houses in my area.
It’s a bad argument, and it detracts from the quality of the conversation.

------
oftenwrong
I downvote comments that I think are bad. Comments that are useless,
unhelpful, non-constructive, etc.

For example, a few from the ruby post that was on the front page recently:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23990533](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23990533)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23995632](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23995632)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23991570](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23991570)

~~~
jgwil2
I'm not sure why you are getting downvoted here - you have given concrete
examples of comments that are bad. Whether one agrees with you or not, this is
exactly the kind of answer that OP was looking for.

~~~
happytoexplain
I think it's clear the downvoters probably didn't agree that those examples
are bad enough to be downvoted. (I have no opinion).

------
ThePadawan
I concur with all the points you already mentioned and will add "stray too far
off-topic into bikeshedding".

It only takes a handful of comments to go from meaningful discussions about
the article to talking about vim vs. emacs etc.

------
happytoexplain
I consciously try not to downvote even if I strongly disagree with somebody or
have negative emotions about their expression. I downvote if I think a comment
is low-value. Examples include:

\- Inordinately combative, mocking, sarcastic, or otherwise negatively
emotional comments.

\- Low value comments likely to provoke or distract.

\- Comments complaining about downvotes (e.g. "I'll be downvoted for saying
this, but...", or, "Why am I being downvoted? Is it because [I'm right |
they're irrational | they have the wrong politics | etc]". There's even an
example in this thread! This is essentially self-victimization, underdogging,
etc. For the same reason, when I am downvoted, I never comment on it - I just
accept that that's how people feel about what I said and try to learn from it
rather than be bitter about it.

------
bena
I notice I get downvoted every time I bring up an uncomfortable situation with
anything that touches on the ethical side of automation.

I never get discussion on the issues I bring up. At best I get hand-waving.

Even though I admit the questions are hard and the problems are going to be
difficult. But it is concerning that we aren't even thinking about the issues
that come with "near-automation".

As for myself, I would like to think I only downvote people who seem to be
unnecessarily combative. But, being a human, I'm willing to accept that my
judgment may not be 100%. Or that I may have perceived the comment wrong. That
would be my ideal, however.

------
qwerty456127
I never downvote anything anywhere ever. I don't understand how can downvoting
make any constructive sense. You are meant to flag whatever is spam, offense
or blatant misinformation anyway.

I also believe many people would feel very bad if you downvote them so you
should better have a serious reason. The fact you disagree or don't like them
(let alone don't consider what they wrote interesting/useful for you) is not
enough.

~~~
kgwxd
I was about to say you can't flag comments so downvotes are the only option,
but I realized I have only been assuming that for years and never really
questioned it. Looks like if you click on the "n [minutes|hours|days] ago"
link on a comment, there is a "flag" option there. Now I know. So the
questions is, why even have a downvote button?

------
lmilcin
I am pretty frustrated with downvotes, it seems a lot of users downvote for
very different reasons that I do and so here are some reasons I downvote:

\- blatant misinformation,

\- posts that I feel are way off HN standards (for example just throwing
expletives, writing "fr1st", generally wasting vertical space with no
content),

\- focusing on HN voting mechanics and generally complaining about downvotes
(no, I don't want to hear why you think your post is being downvoted, if you
can't take downvotes as what it is -- voice of multitude of people that may be
right or wrong, stop posting)

\- extremist claims with no proofs -- the truth is almost always somewhere
between extremes. Claiming the truth is an extreme of universe of
possibilities should be taken with huge caution and usually just means the
person is blind and deaf. In my personal experience, people who really do know
the topic will usually start their answers with "that depends" or "it is
complicated", and there is very good reason for it. The world is complicated
and here on HN we try to understand it a little bit better with all its gory
details and not create groupthink closing asymptotically to extreme views.

~~~
yjftsjthsd-h
> generally complaining about downvotes (no, I don't want to hear why you
> think your post is being downvoted, if you can't take downvotes as what it
> is -- voice of multitude of people that may be right or wrong, stop posting)

I sort of agree, but I also dislike comments being downvoted without any
replies; it becomes a blind "people dislike and/or disagree with your comment,
but good luck figuring out why".

~~~
happytoexplain
I agree that people should engage more, to avoid the case where a comment is
downvoted but it's not clear why from either the comment itself or its
replies, but I think that case is somewhat rare. More importantly, complaining
or positing reasons oneself that inevitably portray the downvoters as
irrational doesn't help achieve that goal.

------
jimmyswimmy
After being a member here for years I recently got the ability to down vote
after making a well timed post. I've only used this power a little bit, and I
think only on way off topic comments or jokes. I hope over the years I've up
voted a lot more, and mostly on things I found insightful, even when I
disagree, because that's the community I want to be a part of. Voting to agree
or disagree is not really the best way to foster effective exchange of ideas.
I hope that is what HN is still for. I've learned a lot here over the years
thanks to the insightful and differing viewpoints one can find here.

I think I've also used this power to down vote completely incorrect
information a few times.

But I usually read when not signed in and then I can't vote at all. And
honestly, I think it was a pg comment that talking about voting and karma is
boring. Either the post is valuable or it's not.

------
AnonC
Why do _I_ downvote? I downvote to do my part in making invisible the comments
that I don’t want floating around here. Any voting system is meant for voters
to help decide what’s important and what’s not. That’s the case with HN too.

It’s all fine and dandy to say that downvotes shouldn’t be used for
disagreements (which, on the other hand, pg himself has said is fine to do),
but no voting based system can prevent that. Voting by the masses by itself is
a flawed system that depends on the attitude, mindset and knowledge of the
voter.

There are many users on HN who downvote to express disagreement or dislike for
certain comments. I too downvote some comments that I disagree with to prevent
them from surfacing up because I do not value those comments. If upvoting is
meant to help “useful content” (as perceived by the reader) surface to the
top, then downvoting is meant for the opposite purpose. Whenever I see a
downvoted comment whose content I believe I agree with or that others may have
aggressively downvoted to express disagreement, I upvote them.

Nobody, in my recollection, has ever said that upvotes shouldn’t be used to
express agreement. So using upvotes to express agreement while saying that
downvotes shouldn’t be used for disagreement makes no sense. We don’t live in
utopia. Not every comment is worthy enough to stay visible in a black font
with text replies to express disagreement and go on with lengthy arguments. We
are not objective beings who don’t care about that number on the top right
that has no tangible value.

Looking only at the downvoted or flagged comments in this thread will show
what the broader community wants or prefers.

Edit: After having said all this and admitting that I do downvote comments
that I disagree with, I also believe that downvoting for this purpose is
probably not a good idea for one’s mental health and emotional quotient. Most
of the time, I browse HN comments without logging in (so no voting at all),
and that’s a way to _just observe_ and experience HN.

------
yodon
I don't have hard analytical data here but on highly partisan tech issues
(Microsoft, Open Source and Licensing, Language strengths and weaknesses, etc)
I've noticed there is often a significant swing in the direction of the voting
over time with the first voters (who are presumably quickly refreshing the HN
new page and responding immediately to everything) being the most hyper-tech-
partisan, anti-Microsoft, pro-GPL, anti-TypeScript downvoters (but not
commenters) pounding well-intentioned comments quickly into the gray, followed
later in the day by the more mainstream HN voters and commenters who appear to
be much less dogmatically anti-Microsoft, etc., and who commonly flip those
initially grayed out comments back into positive territory and frequently well
up into the comment rankings.

~~~
ryandrake
I'd love to see visualizations over time for the voting on comments. What I've
seen often is as soon as I post something, it gets immediately downvoted,
often multiple downvotes. Doesn't matter what I post. It could be pro-Company,
anti-Company, pro-Language, anti-Language, right, left, doesn't matter.
Immediately down. Then throughout the day, gradually the upvotes come
(presumably from people who actually read the comment), and the comment long-
term ends up around 1 or 2.

I've seen this initial drop followed by slow and steady upvotes over and over
and over. The mods/admins must have tools to plot votes over time and I bet
the visualizations are very interesting.

------
gen25c391574a4a
The great thing about the downvote feature is that is perfectly individually
subjective, and thereby its affect on comments is an emergent property
reflecting the subjective sentiment of the community. Perhaps more
importantly, by only enabling downvotes after some period of time, new users
are acclimated to the culture here (say, versus reddit), and thereby dampen
culture swings.

To the OP's question, since the aggregate effect of downvoting is suppressing
the visibility of a comment, I think of a downvote as my personal "delete"
button.

~~~
happytoexplain
>its affect on comments is an emergent property reflecting the subjective
sentiment of the community.

Thank you for making this point - you stated it perfectly. Regardless of what
you think downvotes "should be used for", the fact is that they are used to
"downvote", _whatever that means_ , and that alone is valuable.

------
thedevindevops
I don't have the option to downvote yet but I don't feel it detracts from the
experience.

------
stunt
> I try to not downvote to disagree. I downvote misinformation, statements
> that are egressive towards a person and not the point they are making,
> responses that say "This.".

I think vast majority of downvotes that I see on HN are more or less like
that. Absolute trolls and disrespectful ones are on top of the list.

Usually the ones that people complain the most about are off-topic comments
that get downvoted. I see them specially happening when the post itself is
also kind of off-topic. Those posts tend to be open ended discussions. And if
you are late to the discussion it's possible that the discussion is already
headed to a more specific sub-topic. Some new comments are then considered
off-topic by some users.

Upvote is more powerful. I personally try to use upvote to keep what I believe
is relevant on the top. And that's what I see most of the users do as well.
But, I also don't mind if my comment get downvoted. There is nothing negative
about downvotes. It's just other users telling me that this is off-topic right
now.

------
CM30
Generally, I try to avoid downvoting when there's been an honest attempt to
add to/start a discussion, or when I merely disagree with someone.

So the only things I generally downvote are literal spam (this makes up the
vast, vast majority of content I downvote, however small that number is) and
deliberate misinformation.

------
exotree
I downvote for personal attacks, comments that are clearly off topic or add
unnecessary snark or derisive language to the topic at hand, or very clear
disinformation. That maybe leads to me downvoting maybe 1 out of... hundreds
of comments I read on here a week.

------
ilamont
I don't see many people admitting that they downvote opinions they disagree
with, but I will. It's a simple way for me to assert "I disagree," even if the
act will have no visible impact (unless many others do the same). It also lets
me track which comments I've downvoted (via the "undown" tag) vs. those that I
have upvoted.

Sometimes it's difficult to decide whether I should upvote or downvote a
comment. Opinions are often nuanced, and there are many cases where I may
disagree with some points but agree with others, or recognize that even though
I disagree with the commenter, that person has put forward a strong or well-
articulated argument.

~~~
happytoexplain
I _never_ say this, but I'd genuinely love to hear the rationale for people
downvoting a comment whose only apparent crime is saying "I downvote comments
I disagree with". (I don't deny there may be another reason to downvote this
comment aside from simply disagreeing with it, but I don't see anything that
sticks out).

------
Apreche
I downvote anything I don't like and I upvote what I do like. Most of the time
I'm upvoting someone who already made basically the same comment I was going
to make. No point in saying the same thing again in another comment, just
upvote. If someone says the opposite of what I was going to say, I downvote.

I never understood people acting like downvoting is some huge crime or being
downvoted is some great slight. It's a little arrow on a web site. It makes a
number in a database go up or down by 1. I don't care how many points my
comments score, and neither should anyone else. Speak your mind, or don't, and
move on with life.

~~~
jdbernard
The reason people frown upon the downvote is because we explicitly _don 't_
want people using it to express dislike. Rather, we should use it as a way for
the community to self-police content that is not in line with our values as a
community. Although it's unavoidable to some extent, I really don't want HN to
develop a strong filter bubble where only things I agree with get shown. I
want to see dissenting opinions and ideas. I often _upvote_ things I dislike
because they were well though out and challenged my thinking.

It's not about scoring imaginary internet points, it's about deciding what is
and isn't acceptable in our community. For me the bar for "unacceptable
content" is a lot higher than just "dislike."

As others have mentioned, if I disagree and think it's worth the time to
engage, I'll respond and hopefully we have a fruitful discussion. Like/dislike
doesn't really come into it. If I really dislike it I just close the tab or
ignore the comment.

~~~
AnonC
> The reason people frown upon the downvote is because we explicitly _don 't_
> want people using it to express dislike.

Who’s “we” here and on what basis are you able to speak for that group? It has
been stated by pg himself a long time ago that it’s ok to downvote to express
dislike or disagreement.

> Although it's unavoidable to some extent, I really don't want HN to develop
> a strong filter bubble where only things I agree with get shown. I want to
> see dissenting opinions and ideas.

HN already has a strong filter bubble on various topics. Yes, it may seem
better than some other communities, but any place that constantly allows new
users to view or participate will have them (the new users) see some sort of
filter bubbles established and enforced by the ones who have been around for
longer (and have these as blind spots that they cannot recognize).

------
notacoward
Most often for obvious bad-faith arguments, such as clinging to misinformation
or logical fallacies despite having them pointed out as such. Sometimes for
extreme rudeness toward another commenter (not a public figure). Never for
mere disagreement. Also never for "not adding enough to the conversation"
because I think the hostility toward short comments and "small talk" here
drives every conversation toward pompous verbosity. There's nothing wrong with
a "lighter" conversational style.

------
codegeek
I downvote for the following reasons:

1\. Outright abusive language, personal attack on someone, sarcasm or obvious
self promotion.

2\. Irrelevant to the actual discussion even if it is otherwise well written.
Some examples: humor/joke without any other valuable discussion, talking about
a totally different topic.

I never downvote even if I disagree with someone as long as they are not in
one of the 2 categories above.I also don't downvote if someone makes an honest
mistake or is wrong about something.

------
SwiftyBug
Wait, you guys can downvote?

~~~
AnonC
That comment brought a smile to my face after seeing so many memes with that
phrasing. To respond to the actual question though, sometime after you cross
500 karma points, you’ll be able to downvote comments too (posts cannot be
downvoted).

------
non-entity
Generally stuff that violates the commenting guidelines (which unfortunately
can found in abundance each day now).

I still think it would be an interesting experiment to remove voting from
comments altogether. I actually dont see much value in voting comments in
general, since the provide such a wealth signal, especially as highly
political articles find acceptance on HN.

------
andrewtbham
pg says you can downvote if you disagree.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16131314](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16131314)

This was brought to my attention by the mods (dang) and they agree with it and
enforce it yet they haven't documented it anywhere such as the guidelines.
strange

------
simonsarris
I downvote sarcastic, jokey, snarky, or flippant comments. There are no
shortage of sites where peanut gallery comments are the norm, and I think we
should continue to discourage them here as much as possible.

------
iagovar
I downvote when I feel like a comment doesn't belong to HN, be it quality,
insults, etc.

~~~
cerberusss
Or stuff straight against the guidelines. Like shallow dismissals, or comments
that try and pull people into arguments.

------
ryzvonusef
I only downvote trolls, it acts as more of a moderation feature for me

------
stareatgoats
Not sure if I can say any general reason why I downvote sometimes. Perhaps
mostly when people complain about being down-voted ...

I've come to the conclusion that one needs to have a healthy distance to ones
points, and realize that it's just a gamification of discourse that is helpful
up to a certain point, but that it quickly gets counterproductive when that's
mostly all that people care about.

I sense that many people are extremely strategic about what they submit or
comment on, where they comment etc, and therefore get sensitive about the
downvotes as well. Unfortunately it is a seemingly unavoidable consequence of
introducing scores in any context.

Better just accept that people downvote you for whatever reason, don't worry
too much about your karma (what on earth for?). Care about the content
instead.

------
deeg
I can't downvote (yet!) but if I could it would be rare and would be for one
of these two reasons:

1) Extremely rude, disrespectful, or hateful.

2) Pushes conspiracy theories as truthful. Like anti-vaxxers.

One of the reasons I value HN is to read opinions that are the opposite of
mine. Sometimes they bring up points that I've never considered, other times
they make me think more about my own positions. At the very least I might
better understand the reasons for other opinions.

I would rather read a news story on HN with the opinions than just read it on
a "regular" news site, even something reputable like NYTimes. I feel I learn
more about the topic.

------
WhompingWindows
Personally, I never downvote based on whether I agree with someone. I only
downvote for low-effort comments that do not contribute, things like "lol" or
5-10 word comments with no evidence/explanation. Even if someone needs
citations, I'm not going to downvote them, I'll ask for further
evidence/citations, which in itself often gets downvoted.

I've been downvoted a number of times for posting well-written, thought-out
responses which other people disagreed with. I've often been downvoted below
zero within a minute of posting, just for playing Devil's Advocate. I think
these downvoters react negatively to things they disagree with, and the
downvote button for them is much simpler than actually dissecting and
responding to an argument.

Do we want to live in a society where even the most technically minded forum,
where objective truth should stand triumphant, falls to reactionary downvoters
and fake news?

~~~
happytoexplain
Note: The parent was significantly edited while I was writing.

>for posting well-written, thought-out responses which other people disagreed
with

I could write a well-written, thought-out argument in favor of segregating
blacks. I'm not suspicious of you - I'm just saying, maybe you're making too
much assumption about how valuable your writing is, since you've only used
"well written" and "thought out" as evidence.

>just for playing Devil's Advocate

Do you announce that that's what you're doing? Do you think there is such
thing as a comment that deserves downvotes, but that wouldn't if it was
written the same word for word with the exception of being announced as a
thought exercise? (Not rhetorical - I suspect my personal answer is yes).

>within a minute

A minute is a long time.

> They are coddled and react negatively to things they disagree with

This is a broad and specific accusation to level at people just because they
downvoted you. It's also a very convenient way to convince oneself that one is
"the better person".

~~~
basch
None of that should really matter. Either it adds to the conversation or not.
Conversation being the key word. Even if its a poorly thought out or written
argument, if its mistakes generate good replies, its good for the goose.

~~~
kangnkodos
The problem is that beside the comment, I am only left with one feedback
lever, up or down.

Just image if I were given two feedback levers instead:

\- This comment adds to the discussion/This comment does not add significantly
to the discussion

\- Agree/Disagree

~~~
basch
Why do we need to signal agree disagree? If you disagree, reply. The reader
doesnt need comments sorted by most popular sentiment, that just reinforces
bubbles.

I don't upvote things I agree with, I upvote unique contributions to
discussion that arent the platitudes spread everywhere else, even ones I
disagree with.

------
draw_down
Because I think sometimes people make comments on here that aren’t very good.

------
HugThem
This is an example of a comment that should be downvoted.

~~~
happytoexplain
I vacillated, but then upvoted you because I love a good paradox.

------
dazc
I was going to give you an answer but then I would likely get down-voted. See
the problem?

