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Comment by jnorthrop | Hacker News Reader

Please do not downvote marcoperaza's post because you disagree with it. That goes against the spirit and intent of this site. Make your own argument to counter instead.

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https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171

PG said:

> I think it's ok to use the up and down arrows to express agreement. Obviously the uparrows aren't only for applauding politeness, so it seems reasonable that the downarrows aren't only for booing rudeness.

It's a bit weird to impose your own (admittedly popular) purpose of the vote buttons, claiming that your view is the true spirit and intent of the site, when there's a quote from the guy who set up the site directly contradicting you.

I'd agree with that assessment if the downvote button didn't have the direct result of fading the comment into invisibility. Dissenting commentary can still be conducive to an informed discussion and thus worth reading, and the idea that disagreement is meant to be treated as something to be silenced is incredibly disturbing, especially in the context of this post.

Voting systems like HN inevitably lead to an echo chamber when used to signal agreement or disagreement. HN already largely is one, but its a shame to see that this is officially endorsed.

I downvoted it because of the tone: "disgusting", "you have to be naive", "unquestionably legitimate", etc. The post's grandchild, by the same user, is fine (though not very useful, rehashing old arguments).

Although a string of deceptive fallacies does constitute an argument, that doesn't mean it contributes anything to informed discussion. "...the unquestionably legitimate foreign intelligence activities and capabilities of the United States" is just an appeal to authority. "You have to be naive to think the Russians are harboring him without something in exchange" is just a failure of imagination, and/or jingoistic bigotry. "This traitor's bust does not belong among the remains of fallen heroes" is just name-calling.

I think it's pretty clear the OP is being downvoted for resorting to character assassination (accusing Snowden of selling/giving intelligence secrets to Russia) without any proof of his claims.

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