Re:The Value of Hitting the HN Front Page
by cylemons on Wednesday August 20, 2025 @12:10PM
(#44963203)
does HN even have a downvote button?
Re:The Value of Hitting the HN Front Page
by dragonwriter on Wednesday August 20, 2025 @12:13PM
(#44963232)
For comments, yes, for stories, only flag but not downvote.
But both flag and downvote are karma-gated (I think the threshold is 500 for both, but I could be wrong.)
Re:The Value of Hitting the HN Front Page
by CRConrad on Tuesday August 26, 2025 @06:39AM
(#45024733)
Yes, but only for comments. And it's limited not only by karma, but time: It's only available for a rather short time after a comment was posted. Dunno how long exactly, but feels like something between... 12 and 24 hours?
People come to HN comments to have a constructive debate, so they are less likely to downvote for disagreement. I often upvote comments I disagree with if the point is well made.
People come to Reddit to have their beliefs confirmed. The subreddit structure reduces mixing between users with different beliefs, and where that mixing does occur, e.g. on the large subreddits, it tends to turn into a downvote battle.
^ It's not really about intelligence but openness to new ideas. You can have one without the other.