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Re:Portugal’s radical drug policy is working. Why hasn’t the... by bonestamp2 on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @03:18AM (#15859482)
We should never downvote a comment just because we disagree with it. We should only downvote comments that don't contribute to the discussion. If someone is blatantly wrong, their information could be a common misconception that needs to be addressed and seen by everyone. Comments we disagree with are most often very good additions to the discussion and should be upvoted, even if they're factually inaccurate but there is a comment that corrects them. We have to include more ideas, not filter out the ideas we disagree with -- that creates an echo chamber which helps no one.
Re:Portugal’s radical drug policy is working. Why hasn’t the... by danmaz74 on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @05:54AM (#15860137)
I used to think like you, but I had to change my mind many years ago. There are opinions you don't agree with - and those shouldn't be downvoted - and there are blatant lies or idiocies at the "the World is flat" level, often put forward by trolls.

Arguing with those is a total waste of time, and one reason why HN is so good is that they get downvoted to oblivion in no time.

Re:Portugal’s radical drug policy is working. Why hasn’t the... by bonestamp2 on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @05:10PM (#15865485)
I agree with you. I think "the world is flat" fits into my second sentence... do downvote things that don't contribute to the conversation.
Re:Portugal’s radical drug policy is working. Why hasn’t the... by danmaz74 on Thursday December 07, 2017 @02:55AM (#15868447)
ok :) Then again the problem is where you put the bar, if only there was an easy way...
Re:Portugal’s radical drug policy is working. Why hasn’t the... by j_s on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @06:42AM (#15860361)
As someone upvoting/downvoting this is an admirable approach, but as a commenter it's not how things work in practice.

Double-hop to the most popular/ancient official endorsement via related discussions: https://hn.algolia.com/?type=all&query=117171

Re:Portugal’s radical drug policy is working. Why hasn’t the... by bonestamp2 on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @05:09PM (#15865478)
I agree it's not how it happens, but if everyone was aware of and valued the approach then maybe someday it will happen.
Re:Portugal’s radical drug policy is working. Why hasn’t the... by loorinm on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @03:52AM (#15859624)
I never comment on HN, but I figured out how to log in just so I could express my enthusiasm for how valuable the above comment is.

I wish everyone in every debate ever could read what is written above. People not doing the above is the one major problem with public discourse today.

Re:Portugal’s radical drug policy is working. Why hasn’t the... by builditand on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @01:47PM (#15863739)
Ambiguous user interface is not the user's fault.

If I up vote when I agree with a post, then I down vote when I disagree. We should have an "off topic" flag for off topic posts and hide the off topic posts, not unpopular ones.