
Ask HN: Somebody is manipulating the downvotes - brilliantcode
I&#x27;m seeing my comments being instantly downvoted and the number is exactly the same each time.<p>What measures exist against high karma accounts downvoting the exact same username out of personal beef? I did mention Peter Thiel is gay (which he admitted publicly and I&#x27;m merely stating facts-please see my profile).<p>I was able to graph the time of the downvotes and map it across time and what I&#x27;m seeing is a clear pattern of willful downvote manipulation.<p>This is pretty disheartening, because I thought HN was an open and accepting place. Everyday, it&#x27;s becoming more and more like Stackoverflow.
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pyronite
I've never downvoted you, but I've taken note of you as a vitriolic poster,
particularly after you had inflammatory comments deleted from a recent Soylent
thread.

No downvoting should be automated, but it's possible you're being downvoted
due to the content of your posts. gus_massa's hypothesis sounds reasonable.

~~~
brilliantcode
I won't disagree that my piece on Soylent was inflammatory but it was because
in my humble opinion, it's shitjuice. It could've been put in a better way.

I also won't apologize for criticizing the defense industry and any
individual/startup involved/acquired by it.

After all, I turned down money from a VC who I found out sold his company to
the defense industry and had multiple off-shore shell accounts that I tracked
using [https://panamapapers.icij.org/](https://panamapapers.icij.org/)

All that aside, I don't believe it's fair to have ANY and ALL of my comments
downvoted because some people disagree with my views.

I have nothing but respect for HN folks. So many smart people, so much talent
and potential, I only seek to learn from everyone else who is clearly smarter
and successful than me.

I will dial it back but this downvote manipulation is very real and I'm seeing
high karma accounts abusing their power very openly with little to no
repercussion.

I feel like HN is approaching Stackoverflow levels, where contribution is
discouraged unless high karma accounts approve.

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DanBC
What did the mods say when you emailed to ask them?

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2_listerine_pls
they down-voted him.

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danso
When did the downvotes start to happen?

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brilliantcode
it started a few months ago, at first I thought it was a coincidence but the
similar number of downvotes always make it with no explanation for downvotes.

Now it's blatantly obvious somebody is drive by downvote manipulating my
comments.

~~~
gus_massa
The similar number of downvotes may be explained because many users (i.e. me)
don't like to downvote grey comments (unless they are very offensive or
extremely wrong).

Moreover, I sometimes upvote grey comments that I don't like because they are
too light grey (unless they are offensive or very wrong). I guess I'm not the
only one. So this may explain that some comments stabilize in the same tone of
grey.

As the other comment said, try asking the mods hn@ycombinator.com

~~~
brilliantcode
Yeah except the timing of the downvotes are always the same, which made me
think somebody is doing it on purpose.

Having said that, I believe that there is a ring of high karma accounts
manipulating and censoring comments. I see regular comments that shouldn't be
downvoted censored because it's critical of some startup/company that has HN
users involved.

Anyways, my trust for HN is at an all time low.

