Re:Thank goodness we don't have downmods on HN
by raganwald on Friday August 29, 2008 @02:30PM
(#290283)
[Edit] P.S.: You miss your blog, don't you? :-)
No. Exchanging ideas like this is not the same thing as blogging, no matter how much Web 2.0 people call the Internet a "conversation."
Re:Thank goodness we don't have downmods on HN
by nuclear_eclipse on Friday August 29, 2008 @08:43PM
(#290598)
I miss your blog though... :(
Re:Thank goodness we don't have downmods on HN
by anamax on Friday August 29, 2008 @02:37PM
(#290298)
> Ultimately, the goal of upmodding is to increase the perceived quality of the site.
> Downmodding expresses disapproval of a submission, and, again, its ultimate goal is to increase the perceived quality of the site.
Don't have much experience with people, do you?
People have multiple, often inconsistent goals. Improving someone else's site may be one of them, but it's rarely the highest.
Re:Thank goodness we don't have downmods on HN
by raganwald on Friday August 29, 2008 @02:23PM
(#290274)
You're arguing the value of downmods from the perspective of improving the site's quality, which is not what I argued. I am simply expressing approval with respect to my personal happiness.
As to convincing myself, I am now convinced :-)
Let's look at the ability to upmod a submission. Upmodding a submission expresses approval of the submission, and signals to other users that it might be something that they would find interesting. Ultimately, the goal of upmodding is to increase the perceived quality of the site.
Downmodding expresses disapproval of a submission, and, again, its ultimate goal is to increase the perceived quality of the site.
While downmodding is vulnerable to a certain amount of gaming, that is a problem with its mechanics, not its principle, and upmodding is vulnerable to the exact same form of gaming.
If poorer quality items tend to get upmodded, and if there's no way to counter that, then the site's quality falls and eventually the site itself becomes the sort of waste of time that you're talking about.
Regardless, downmods aren't likely to be implemented at any point in the near future, and this entire discussion is a waste of time. I'm a little annoyed at myself for participating, but ... y'know ... someone on the internet was wrong. [http://xkcd.com/386/]
[Edit] P.S.: You miss your blog, don't you? :-)