Ask HN: When Should We Use Down Votes? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: When Should We Use Down Votes?

Should we use the down vote if: If we disagree with the opinion ? If the premise is factually incorrect ? If the item is poorly written ? Whenever/however we want?

What is the proper use of the downvote?

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I don't think a down vote should be used for simple disagreement, because there's no point in having a one-sided discussion. If there's a factual error, correct it in a comment. I think down votes should be used on things that are:

a) Utterly pointless (memes, insults, trolling, etc)

b) Spam

For comments, if it does not contribute to the discussion at all, it should (probably) be downvoted.

Downvotes are an efficient way of saying "I think you are wrong" and often that's all I really want to say. Bad two sided conversations are worse than bad one sided conversations.

I usually only downvote purely out of disagreement if the person trotted out some argument that everyone who disagrees with them has heard before, so that I don't leave the response everyone already knows that rebuts it. E.g., the old pro-/anti-GPL debate. Downvoting lets you get satisfaction without dignifying a dumb thread with a response.

Also I downvote things that are just conversational, low content, inflammatory. But I don't downvote a lot, only when the comments seem to be derailing things.

It varies. I very rarely downvote something just because I disagree with it, but will do so freely if it's based on an obvious fallacy or false premise, or it's pointlessly rude or antagonistic. I try not to do so too often, but I don't actually know my ratio of up- to down-votes, so I'm probably a bit more negative in practice than this idealized concept.

Downvotes are polymorphic. I downvote what needs downvoting. Recognize that some things trigger downvoting because of what someone else did and some things trigger downvoting because of what I might do otherwise, A down vote is better for HN than my passion fueled contrary opinion to something wrong on the internet.

Reasons I downvote comments fall into two categories:

1. Poor etiquette

2. Poor writing

Examples of poor etiquette:

- Obvious self promotion that adds nothing to discussion

- Any mention of "downvote" in the comment body

- "Flamebait" and clearly mean-spirited remarks

Examples of poor writing:

- Completely off-topic, especially if at top of thread

- Factually incorrect

- Extraordinary claim without extraoridinary evidence

- Ambiguous language or poor wording that leads to confusion

- Aggressive conclusions based on faulty logic

I try to avoid downvoting for emotional reasons. Just because I disagree with a comment does not mean it's wrong. I have noticed a trend, especially around NSA/government/surveillance/conspiracy type comments, where people will downvote logical arguments without refuting them. This is not good for discussion. If you disagree with a comment, try to understand its author before reflexively downvoting. An equally logical reply contributes far more to discussion than a downvote.

I usually downvote:

- Bad quality content

- Factually incorrect or unscientific

- Clickbait and misleading titles

- Spam

- non-tech political Stuff

- shaming, whining, blaming

- too personal centered content

In one: Everthing that doesn't contributes to a tech-centered professional news site.

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