

Ask HN: Why are there arrows beside usernames in comments? - newb223

I click on them and they disappear, do they have a purpose?
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chrisedge
They are to rank the comments and give the users karma points. So yes they
have a purpose.

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jscn
OP points out a real issue, though. If you didn't already know that, how would
you? Perhaps some alt text could be added to the arrows.

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MrDunham
You make a great point. It probably took me a day to figure out what "karma"
was, upvotes, etc. I don't think I sent a single upvote for weeks since I
didn't know how important they were/weren't.

HN isn't really set up for the new user, IMHO.

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ISeemToBeAVerb
I'm pretty new here (about a week I think). While the voting/karma system
isn't readily apparent, like you, I figured it out about a day after
registering. I think the FAQ could possibly benefit from a more thorough
explanation, but I do think people figure it out eventually once they start
participating.

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jagan123
I registered yesterday and came to know about it immediately about what he up
arrows are. Anyone who's familiar with discussion forums can get it in a while
I guess. But, sure, I think HN should have given a note of this. Using Alt
text is a good idea to keep the space clean and unintuitive.

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pitdesi
getting rid of karma points on comments has certainly hurt here... it's harder
to ascertain what they are for when they don't increase.

