Comment by ryanwaggoner | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ryanwaggoner | Hacker News Reader

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That's a Wordpress plugin called "WP Greet Box" [1] and this message is only shown to users coming from HN, not everyone. Also, you'll be happy to know that I get grief for it every time one of my posts lands on the homepage :)

I understand your concern, but it's really just a reminder to vote the article up if you enjoyed it. I frequently read good articles and then forget to vote them up because something else catches my attention. I really doubt anyone is swayed to upvote an article they didn't think worthy because of this message. Just the opposite: some hacker types get worked up because they seem to be allergic to promotion of any kind, and thus won't upvote the article, even though they would have otherwise. But I'm betting that the balance of people who upvote because they liked the article AND because they were reminded outweighs the anti-promotion crowd. Either way, I don't think it's a big deal. Sorry if it offended you.

1. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-greet-box/

For what it's worth - Every time i click on an HN story I also open the comment page (in two new tabs - I use the fabulous Tree Style Tab firefox extension to stop that becoming as insane as it sounds).

That way after I read the story, even if I go away, the comment page is still open so I can upvote it when I am clearing up later. In that way I rarely if ever forget to upvote a story I liked.

I don't particularly like having my upvote solicited because it makes the thing seem too much like a popularity contest - the people who lobby end up getting more than the equally worthy ones that don't.

Funny. I also always open the comment page and the article at the same time (no tree plugin though). And yet, I very often forget to upvote the article, since I'm usually eager to dive into the comments.

Interestingly, in this case, I saw the "please upvote" message, said to myself "ok let's go upvote on the comment page I have open", and still forgot to do it because I started reading comments.

This thread reminded me to do it. :)

I thought using the WP Greet Box for HN upvote was a smart move. Definitely piqued my interest in referrer-based call to action

Have you done A/B testing on that, ie. whether you get more or fewer upvotes with the reminder?

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