Ask HN: Downvotes? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Downvotes?

2 pointsconnorcodes5 comments

Before I start, I need to say, I am very new to HN. So after a few days of using HN, I thought my karma was off to a good start. But then after commenting on an article, I got lots of downvotes. That was a 30 percent blow to my karma. My comment said nothing uncivilized that's against HN's terms. So why am I getting downvotes for saying something different? Will I ever get more than 501 karma!?!

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Reading your comment history, as a general recommendation try to avoid oneliners. Add more information, or explain your ideas more thoughtfully. Sometimes oneliners are too similar to "I agree" or "I disagree" that has too few information. Try to find a link that support your position.

I wouldn't worry about it. HN karma is effectively useless, and you can get downvoted for all sorts of silly reasons... ranging from "person was actually trying to upvote you but misclicked" to "you said something that goes against the prevailing collective wisdom and people downvoted you to express disagreement" to "you actually did something that's against the site terms", and everything in between.

Your karma is going to fluctuate over time... don't take it personally.

It takes a while to adjust yourself to the collective narrative on this platform. I think for the most part, comments are for discussion and encouraging alternating views. If you write, "this is nice", there's not a lot of substance that others can extract from it. So, with that said, focus on threads where you have an interesting perspective or thought to add. Much easier to get your 500 karma points that way.

> comments are for discussion and encouraging alternating views

Interesting, this hasn't been my experience at all. Non-mainstream views, even if explained and written in a friendly manner, quickly get downvoted, mainstream views, even the most mundane ("bad things are bad") and with the least amount of effort, usually are not.

Jokes apparently don't land well, either.

Yes, this happens a lot on HN. It's pretty common to present a firsthand perspective only to be downvoted without anyone commenting on why they downvoted.

I think that largely, this has to do with the fact that a lot of the site users are heavily invested in their lives (identities?) and aren't looking to be told otherwise.

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” ― Carl Gustav Jung

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