Offtopic but serious question: how do you downvote someone on HN? I thought they flat-out turned that off as a design decision, like you see on some subreddits.
At least 500 karma points are needed, but even with that, nobody can downvote a reply to their own comment, which is what your parent commenter was referring to (albeit rudely).
You need a certain amount of karma before it is enabled. I can downvote comments - but not posts. I've got just over 500 karma. I think 500 was the tipping point.
Posts can never be downvoted. Just ignore them if it's not your cup of tea, or flag it if it is inappropriate for HN
You require some minimum amount of karma (500?).
Only vetted echo chamber participants are allowed to downvote.
Oh come on, what's the fun in this negativity?
The guy I replied to spent 3 years thinking downvotes didn’t exist on this site simply because he wasn’t enough of a windbag to earn 500 karma. That’s not fun, it’s a tragedy. What would be fun is a discussion that leads to them changing this lame rule. Quiet people shouldn’t be punished for being quiet.