Way too easy to get downvoted here

[paulpauper]

Does anyone else think that the comment voting system makes it too easy to to downvote for disagreement? I know this is a common complaint but I have have found a solution to the tendency of people to down-vote out of disagreement more often than to up-vote for approval/agreeement. Another problem is that for controversial topics, having an unpopular view may mean getting a lot of downvotes. One solution is to weigh downvotes by only 2/3 the value of upvotes. So getting three downvotes on a comment would only result in 2 karma lost instead of 3. That would still be enough to discourage trolls but make for a more hospitable environment for dissent and disagreement.

[gregjor]

Perhaps not caring so much about HN karma will help. Not like it means anything.

[ratsmack → gregjor]

I wouldn't care so much if the comments weren't greyed out. And there are the times when people want to comment on a dead comment, but they can't.

Also, I've noticed many well formed and relevant responses down voted today, like maybe the moon is in some odd phase making people cranky or something.

[bavell → gregjor]

Yeah, probably best not to be too concerned about imaginary internet points.

[1MachineElf → bavell]

It's not so much the internet points as it is your own point that you're trying to make being made invisible. To not care about that is to not care about your own opinions, which is a tough ask for most people.

I don't have a better solution than the current downvoting situation, but it's a fact that what it hinges upon is equal parts intelligent moderation and fickle pettiness.

[gregjor → 1MachineElf]

> To not care about that is to not care about your own opinions, which is a tough ask for most people.

No, it’s not to care what random other people care about how you express your opinions. Lots of downvotes can mean your opinions have no merit, but it can also mean a small number of people disagree with you, or that you went off-topic, or didn’t express your opinion persuasively.

[1MachineElf → gregjor]

>a small number of people

FWIW, it takes a vote score of -4 to kill your comment.

[gregjor → 1MachineElf]

Takes a vote of 1 (yourself) to post a comment.

[1MachineElf]

I can't say what would be a better way of doing things, but IMO, setting showdead to yes in the user preferences (so that dead comments are displayed) is the hallmark of a true HN user.

[DoreenMichele]

Discussion 10 days ago:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26810972

[PaulHoule]

No.

Some people aren't going to like what you say some of the time.