* This was just to keep me typing ruby for a few hours. However, this post made it to the top 3 posts, then was removed from the top page by the moderators. It is demoralizing to have it 'hidden' for no specified reason silently.
Either way it was a good test of a possible (terrible) feature.
BUT :) Ironically, I can't edit that comment.
PS! Thanks for your hard work!!!
Also, for the record I still index all comments on HN in near, real-time: https://hnprofile.com/
I'd argue some of the most negative comments are not actually down voted. I've had very pleasant comments get down voted as well, and even comments swing from negative votes to positive.
I don't think this helps with any of those, or the poor comments you made. It's just karma management.
Ps. You should have the dignity to not do it while your drunk though :p
I feel like discussions on this site started going downhill when PG decided "votes == agreement" was acceptable. Expressing a well-structured and well-researched opinion should not engender downvotes, while empty sound bites should. Sadly, what actually happens now depends on which side of the mob the post falls.
Scores? Nah we keep them secret from others.
Who downvoted/silenced someone? We don't discuss that.
Unpopular opinion, but intellectually interesting? Someone (mods or others) silence and rate limit you. Your opinion does not matter.
Mods threaten you for "ideological rants"... Its because it was not in the interests of SV/HN. How dare you discuss 'unapproved topics'.
We have better solutions right now. But at this moment, we have no clue what these scores actually are- its information assymetry at its worst.
Reversing public scores would be a start. Publishing who up/downvoted would be another. Showing flagged and killed would be a further step in the right direction of transparency. And so would also getting rid of hellbanning.
But, we end up with mob justice, overseen by a trite dictatorship.
Eg. Who downvoted me? Let's check out there previous post and downvote all of the comments. Put a HN alert on it, so I can make his life hell...
The mods do a good work though, eg. I would like to talk politics, but there is a reason that it's ignored ( correctly so, for quality of the comments)
And please, don't let anyone discuss 10 threads why he's downvoted to go off-topic. I would appreciate better replies if it happens, but that's hard to crack.
However, I think the abuses of everything being opaque is much more deleterious. In the case of HN, speaking rights are directly linked to groupthink. If you're highly +1'ed, you get to speak more. If you're -1'ed, you speak less (rate limited).
But yet, +1 als means "agree" or groupthink. -1 is reserved for trolls and flamewar starters. But yet, it's also used as a "I don't like you", "You're wrong", "Disagree", "Not popular"... Groupthink. Sure, you can have strong content converse to the article.. at -4.
Transparency allows us to see these groups in action, and shines a light on the whole system. Sure, some bad actors can brigade specific users - but I see that as the exception and not the norm.