#upvotes !~ effort put into comment
either you were one of the first to comment, said something really flame-baity, or were just lucky. most of my high-effort comments fell flat, while I get a +160 from a lucky two sentences.
either you were one of the first to comment, said something really flame-baity, or were just lucky. most of my high-effort comments fell flat, while I get a +160 from a lucky two sentences.
Absolutely true in the strictest sense. I've posted very detailed, well researched, citation filled comments in response to questions from people, and gotten absolutely zero upvotes before. OTOH, I've posted borderline flamebait comments that consisted of something like "Fuck the NSA" or whatever, and gotten hundreds of upvotes.
That said, I think that on balance higher quality / higher effort posts are more likely to garner upvotes. But it's definitely not a deterministic, linear correlation at all.
Is it the Lyceum, the height of learned, reasoned debate and intellectual curiosity? No, HN is definitely not an ideal but it is certainly better, on net compared with the alternatives, not that the alternatives are harsh competition.