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Comment by kebolio | Hacker News Reader

Reason for downvoting?

Because I speak in a condescending tone that irritates people. I'm quite used to it. I fully admit it's rare that I can present my point of view in a way that is a) concise rather than a rant, and b) doesn't use phrasing that is abrasive. I should have been able to summarize my point in two sentences without negative coloring, but instead it took me three verbose paragraphs with assaulting language. I'm trying to work on it, but old habits die hard. shrug

(Also sshhhhh, it is anti-HN to discuss downvotes)

I was the same. Probably still am sometimes. The most helpful reminder to myself was that this isn't a shame or punishment thing. It's simply that most people aren't receptive when spoken to that way. So instead of feeling like I was being shamed into being polite, I just reminded myself that it's my loss if I can't communicate my thoughts, no matter what the transport mechanism looks like.

Language is such a horribly inefficient and inconsistent medium of communication..

It's unbelievably flexible though.

Ambiguous, I would say.

Actually it is neither forbidden nor uncommon to see a comment by the downvoter explaining their reasoning for the downvote. But complaining about being downvoted, or inviting discussion about it, is frowned upon.

I just wondered seeing as it had been flagged dead within an hour I believe.

I believe however that this is one of the fundamental flaws of Reddit-style websites. On an imageboard you are obliged to make your disagreement in words, constructive or otherwise. Here, you can passive aggressively click the downvote button and leave the post in limbo.

Well, sometimes it is better to just click to downvote, because the only other possibility that makes sense is to leave a message saying that the guy is a scumbag shithead. In such (common) cases, the simple downvote is better for the health of the thread and of the protagonists.

(I am not at all talking about the present case, let it be clear :-) )

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