

Ask YC: How do you defend the downmodded? - bouncingsoul

I'm confused about how to defend unfairly or inexplicably downmodded comments (which I feel like I'm seeing more of lately).<p>My instinct is to vote them up, but I'm not sure the system properly calculates what I'm trying to say.<p>Because votes are permanent they seem equivalent to absolute statements. What I'm trying to do is make a relative statement (i.e, "This comment is better than its current score indicates.").<p>I would just vote up, but often I don't even agree with the comment. But it's polite and reasonable, so I don't see why it should be punished.<p>Also, I remember PG talking about weighting accounts based on whether they vote up good or bad material. And if I vote up mediocre comments all the time I wonder if I'll be punished in that system.<p>What does everyone else do?
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Xichekolas
To shamelessly copy from a comment I left elsewhere:

 _I'll mod something up if it's on-topic, well thought-out, and I agree with
it. I'll only mod something down if it's blatantly off topic and
rude/trollish. If I simply don't agree with what they said, but they said it
in useful way, I'll just leave it be.

I'm all about modding the people who post goatse links down into negative
oblivion, but I think it kind of stifles discussion if you downmod simply
because you don't happen to agree. Instead of dog-piling someone for a
dissenting opinion, take the extra 30 seconds to write a response. It'll
enrich the discussion._

And I'll add that I upmod comments that are below -1 if they aren't trollish.
If that marginalizes me somehow, who cares. I'd rather people not get their
karma destroyed just because they have a minority opinion. Go destroy trolls
instead.

~~~
kirubakaran
I follow exactly your model.

Downmodding to express disagreement will result in unhealthy group-think.

~~~
cmm324
I agree 100%.

~~~
cmm324
I dont even know how to downmode someone. How do I?

~~~
allenbrunson
you don't, because you don't have enough karma yet. you have to get to 20 or
so before downmodding is possible.

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marcus
Votes aren't meant to signal that a comment is polite or reasonable, ask
yourself was the comment worth the time it took you to read it. Upmod if it
was, Downmod if it wasn't.

The idea is for the community to collaboratively filter the submissions and
comments so the content that is worth reading bubbles to the top, and the
trash goes down to the bottom. That's it.

~~~
BrandonM
The only problem with that is that it means you will be voting on every single
comment. Personally, I also take into account the comment's current score, and
if I agree that its value is equal to its current score, I leave it as it is.

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dhimes
I do a little of both; I'll spend a little if I think someone is taking an
unreasonable hit (I didn't think much about it, honestly, until it happened to
me).

But these days I'm trying to spend more upmodding really good, pertinent
submissions rather than comments. I want to see HN quickly return to being the
resource I came to use so much for hacking, well, news. I'm finding the return
on (time) invested here has fallen recently, and I want it back!

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brk
I'll vote up anything that I either agree with, or that I think conveys a
defensible non-trolling statement, even if I don't necessarily agree with it.

Also, FWIW, I don't generally bother to down-mod anything that is already
negative. There isn't much point to it, unless you feel the poster is clearly
trolling (IMO).

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edw519
Go with your gut and do what you think is the right thing. Let the chips fall
where they may. If everyone did this, we would never have any more of these
"how to make HN better" threads.

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mixmax
There's actually a neat little psychology hack that you can use. If you
comment with "why did this get voted down" it will inevitably be voted up.

I tried it a few times and it seems to work. Just don't do it unless you
really think it is an unfair downmodding, since it doesn't add much to the
conversation.

~~~
SwellJoe
This works in reverse, as well. I used it just recently at reddit...the post
was at 40 points at the time, and by the next day was at 17. That's actually a
more dramatic impact than I expected (though the comment was particularly
obnoxious and sexist, and I was genuinely shocked that it had so many
upvotes).

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benn
Don't fucking circlejerk so much here on news yc. The meta-meta talk is all
crap. Get back to posting links to inspirational stories and insightful tech
articles. All this meta talk is increasing the noise ratio.

~~~
edw519
Don't forget, sometimes hackers can be users, too. This site is the one thing
that we users have in common. So indulge us if you can as we discuss our
common user experience. What you call noise we call QA.

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nextmoveone
so my equation is (all variables range from 1 to 10, except for number of
replied)

agreement/quality*insight-number of replies

if its above 2 then i upmod.... lol

~~~
Tichy
checkt out voteforme.com, the new web service that relieves users of their
voting hassles. With it's sophisticated, patentet formula, voteforme figures
out how you would have voted and does it for you.

