Some people just down-vote anything they disagree with despite any merits the co...

petercooper · on Jan 28, 2009

There was a thread about this on HN several weeks ago. In it, pg seems to imply (to me, at least) that the behavior you talk about is just fine.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=392228

I got modded down for suggesting people should not downvote posts that have merit but that they just disagree with.. but hey :)

graywh · on Jan 28, 2009

Yes, I'm aware of pg's opinion.

rokhayakebe · on Jan 28, 2009

Exactly. I think every time you downvote, you owe it to every one else to explain why.

Xichekolas · on Jan 28, 2009

There was a thread long ago about this for those that are interested: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=147098

(And rokhayakebe, I agree, responding is infinitely more useful than anonymous downmodding, provided the response is civil.)

graywh · on Jan 28, 2009

I see plenty of pointless, off-topic comments that deserved to be downvoted without explanation. But I agree that if you want to downvote just because you disagree, you should probably state your case why. Or upvote someone who already has.

johngunderman · on Jan 28, 2009

A new feature, perhaps? non-anonymous down-voting?

dasil003 · on Jan 28, 2009

who's the arbiter of merit?

netcan · on Jan 29, 2009

The person doing the voting.

dasil003 · on Jan 29, 2009

I meant it more in the sense of a koan

netcan · on Jan 29, 2009

If a comment gets modded in the forest...