

Tell PG: Enable Comments votes optionally - csomar

I have been reading HN for long time. I like the idea of comments rating. However, now that it's removed, it's really making me nervous (I'm not sure why). I just want to know the comments' vote.<p>Is it possible that you make an option? That is we enable it from the settings page. I think other HNers would like to see it back.
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mattm
I'm going to be blunt here. This isn't targeted at you specifically but I've
seen a few posts about the comment scores being removed.

Are you addicted? If some tiny number on a website causes you to feel nervous
or makes you feel like something has been taken away from your life, what does
that tell you about your life? Worry about things you have control over and
don't spend your life energy on things that you don't have control over and
don't really matter. This comment score is both. You don't have control over
it and it doesn't really matter one bit.

There I've said it. Downvote me if you want but it's just an insignificant
number!

"There are some things in life that can be counted which don't count; there
are some things which count that can't be counted." \- Albert Einstein

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tokenadult
There have been several threads of the Ask HN nature about the new HN
interface that doesn't show comment karma scores by default. The site founder,
pg, asked for suggestions on how to "stave off decline of HN" in a thread he
opened 31 days ago.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696>

He then announced the current experiment of not showing comment karma scores
23 days ago,

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2434333>

noting that he might change settings back and forth as the experiment
continued. About two days later he opened a simple yes/no poll about the
current experiment

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2445039>

and 14 days ago he replied to a question with a preliminary report on how
voting behavior has changed.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2465271>

The latest long comment thread about the experiment included several comments
suggesting that voting power be separated from being able to view comment
karma scores directly. (In other words, a user setting would choose whether
the user wants to see comment karma scores or be able to vote on comments.) I
thought about that issue for a few days, off-site. It seems to me that there
are several possible responses to the suggestion that voting power be
separated from visibility of comment karma scores. Perhaps the learned readers
here can suggest other possible responses, and analyze which makes the most
sense.

Should Voting Power Be an Option Separated from Viewing Comment Karma Scores?

1) Yes, then some readers can skim threads for information, while others vote
on comments, and everyone is happy.

2) Yes, because readers can skim threads for information, even if that
inconveniences voters.

3) No, because comment karma scores are misleading as a guide to what to read.
(See pg's post from just before when the experiment began.)

4) No, because everyone should be able to vote, and everyone should have a
clue about which comments have a high score (through colors or fonts or
approximate scores).

5) No, because the interface should be like it was last month, when everyone
could see comment karma scores and could vote based on personal karma.

6) No, because HN users will use sockpuppets to get around any such
distinction between viewing karma and voting.

Personally, I haven't committed myself to any one position on this issue, or
indeed even committed myself to an opinion on whether this is a fitting way to
look at how to improve the site or not. I defer to the site founder on all
issues of site governance. I have found HN largely to be a worthwhile website
for my 898 days as a registered user, and my interest is mostly to make sure
that the site founder and the members of his volunteer editor ("curator") team

<http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html>

continue to enjoy the site and find it useful for themselves. They are doing a
good job, and I want them to have incentive to keep up the good work.

When pg wrote his recent post "Ask HN: How to stave off decline of HN?"

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696>

He wrote, "The problem has several components: comments that are (a) mean
and/or (b) dumb that (c) get massively upvoted."

That's still the key issue. If some change of voting rules or comment karma
visibility brings about higher scores for good comments, and lower scores for
mean, dumb, or other bad comments, that is helpful to all readers of HN. Feel
free to review the site guidelines

<http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

and the site welcome message

<http://ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html>

for guidance on what is desired here and thus guidance on how to vote.

P.S. The last time there was a long thread discussing voting rules, some users
wondered out loud about whether or not registering a new account requires
reading the guidelines before voting. It does not, as I found out the other
day by using a university library terminal that doesn't have my cookies stored
to register a noob experiment account. A brand-new account has upvoting power
immediately, and has a link to the welcome page shown on the top navigation
bar, where it may be noticed (as I noticed it) or may not.

