It is no worse than the voting system being used to beat people down that don't subscribe to the dogmatic view of the world HN readers do. In fact, this is almost better, because at least people will continue to see a dissenting post. At worse it functions as a third party shadow ban. HN already shadow bans, so again, it's no worse. New users in particular are forced into making ideologically aligned posts in order to get enough karma to avoid the insta-shadowban new accounts can get. No different if you're trying to play the game with this stupid plugin.

I do not understand the idolization of HN as some bastion of spirited debate and nuance. It is objectively no better than Reddit and subject to the same hivemind mentality. If you want legitimate spirited debate and can learn to ignore trolls removing the voting system would bring HN closer to the fantasy it's readers seem to believe it is. Unfortunately taking away internet points from the terminally online is akin to making an addict go cold turkey. It wouldn't end well.