

Ask PG: new downvote limit? - dzlobin

I'm seeing some -5 on comments now, can you clue us in to what the new limits are and why?
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pg
I changed the way downvote limits are handled. It used to be that -4 was the
lowest score a comment could get. Now it is just the lowest score that will be
displayed.

I made -4 the lower limit a long time ago because there used to sometimes be a
very unpleasant atmos of piling on when someone said something unpopular and
the score would go down to -10. But I noticed that some people were starting
to take advantage of the fact that this meant you could make an asshole remark
at the cost of at most 5 karma points. Now there is no limit to the cost.

The reason you see -5 is that the code that changes the score is just
Javascript that runs when you click on the up or down arrow. View source and
you'll see.

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derwiki
If I downvote to -5 and then reload the page, it's back to 4 and I can
downvote again. This doesn't actually cause another downvote does it?

~~~
pg
Are you sure the downarrow appears?

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derwiki
Can't reproduce the behavior anymore/not sure if I accurately caught it the
first time.

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anigbrowl
I noticed that too...

(1 hour later) so has anyone managed to get the other message below 4? I can't
vote on my own comment, obviously.

~~~
dzlobin
Now its strange, I can downvote some to -5, I didn't see any -5's to downvote
further and some -4's are invisible. Do posts get wiped if they barrel to -4
fast enough?

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anigbrowl
Although my comment below still shows as -4, I have lost maybe 10 karma points
off my total since I posted it, without other comments being downvoted.

Actually, I have got more upvotes for other comments since then, so while my
total 'should' be about 5345 if -4 were the limit it's actually 5335.

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adrianwaj
I like the idea of having total upvotes and total downvotes for a comment
alongside the current net value. It will show what's controversial. Make
things more transparent.

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anigbrowl
...so in the spirit of sharing, I invite other readers to downvote one of
these comments and upvote the other. Or hell, downvote me twice if it makes
you feel good.

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apsurd
strange, it allowed me to vote you down to -5, so i voted your other comment
to 8. I reload the page. You're at -4 again but the 8 remains 8.

~~~
anigbrowl
Oooh, free karma :-p

edit: dammit dammit dammit

