
Ask HN: Downvotes? - connorcodes
Before I start, I need to say, I am very new to HN.
So after a few days of using HN, I thought my karma was off to a good start. But then after commenting on an article, I got lots of downvotes. That was a 30 percent blow to my karma. 
My comment said nothing uncivilized that&#x27;s against HN&#x27;s terms. So why am I getting downvotes for saying something different? Will I ever get more than 501 karma!?!
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gus_massa
Reading your comment history, as a general recommendation try to avoid
oneliners. Add more information, or explain your ideas more thoughtfully.
Sometimes oneliners are too similar to "I agree" or "I disagree" that has too
few information. Try to find a link that support your position.

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mindcrime
I wouldn't worry about it. HN karma is effectively useless, and you can get
downvoted for all sorts of silly reasons... ranging from "person was actually
trying to upvote you but misclicked" to "you said something that goes against
the prevailing collective wisdom and people downvoted you to express
disagreement" to "you actually did something that's against the site terms",
and everything in between.

Your karma is going to fluctuate over time... don't take it personally.

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skilled
It takes a while to adjust yourself to the collective narrative on this
platform. I think for the most part, comments are for discussion and
encouraging alternating views. If you write, "this is nice", there's not a lot
of substance that others can extract from it. So, with that said, focus on
threads where you have an interesting perspective or thought to add. Much
easier to get your 500 karma points that way.

~~~
luckylion
> comments are for discussion and encouraging alternating views

Interesting, this hasn't been my experience at all. Non-mainstream views, even
if explained and written in a friendly manner, quickly get downvoted,
mainstream views, even the most mundane ("bad things are bad") and with the
least amount of effort, usually are not.

Jokes apparently don't land well, either.

~~~
skilled
Yes, this happens a lot on HN. It's pretty common to present a firsthand
perspective only to be downvoted without anyone commenting on why they
downvoted.

I think that largely, this has to do with the fact that a lot of the site
users are heavily invested in their lives (identities?) and aren't looking to
be told otherwise.

 _“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding
of ourselves.” ― Carl Gustav Jung_

