Re:Ask HN: where'd my ability to downvote go?
by jacquesm on Thursday August 06, 2009 @08:05AM
(#745268)
63... correction 61 points to go.
It's probably a reflection of the size of HN. The more popular it gets the more people are flowing in at the bottom, to keep the place from descending into mayhem the karma thresholds can be ratcheted up.
Re:Ask HN: where'd my ability to downvote go?
by profquail on Thursday August 06, 2009 @07:54AM
(#745244)
I can still downvote as well, so that may give a slightly better idea of the new threshold value (you're in the top 25 on the leaderboard, so it's hard to predict the threshold value from your karma level).
In any case, why isn't the threshold value set dynamically? Maybe something like "if the user is within the top 70% of karma earners for the past week AND within the top 85% of karma earners all time" then allow them to downvote. This way it always adjusts to the traffic on the site and doesn't need to be manually changed unless you want to tweak the parameters a bit.
Re:Ask HN: where'd my ability to downvote go?
by jacquesm on Thursday August 06, 2009 @08:07AM
(#745272)
Being on HN (no matter how much time you spend here) is probably one of the best learning experiences and ways to invest your time there is.
My daily reading list is usually just about exhausted by the time I go to bed, if HN gets any bigger I'll have to get more selective about what I read.
Re:Ask HN: where'd my ability to downvote go?
by mixmax on Thursday August 06, 2009 @09:33AM
(#745397)
True - I started programming around 1½ years ago, since it seemed like a good skill to have. Without HN I wouldn't have come as far as I have, and would be oblivious to a lot of core concepts such as the MVC model and recursion. So thank you HN for teaching me stuff I didn't know before.
Re:Ask HN: where'd my ability to downvote go?
by neoclassical on Thursday August 06, 2009 @10:30AM
(#745513)
Downvoting is pointless. It encourages mass retribution against unpopular but valid topics.
As someone else said, if a topic is broken -- spam, stupid or otherwise useless -- it should be flagged appropriately. My two cents, or probably about six cents worth 1 cent in 1987 values.
Re:Ask HN: where'd my ability to downvote go?
by cema on Thursday August 06, 2009 @10:44AM
(#745556)
Someone voted you down. I voted you back up again. At least voting up is useful! (Feels good, too.)
Seriously, while down votes are needed sometimes, I think they are overused. I often see a legitimate comment voted down because someone apparently disagrees with its contents. This is not what down votes are for.
Re:Ask HN: where'd my ability to downvote go?
by Semiapies on Thursday August 06, 2009 @09:25PM
(#746820)
It's his site. If he says downvoting is appropriate for expressing disagreement, then there's no basis for saying that isn't "what down votes are for".
Re:Ask HN: where'd my ability to downvote go?
by cema on Wednesday August 12, 2009 @06:54PM
(#759476)
He has built the site, and people are building the news forum. It appears (or perhaps "it emerges") that what they are using the voting system for is close to his vision but not 100%. Of course he can still guide it, but the crowd works its ways.
Re:Ask HN: where'd my ability to downvote go?
by smithjchris on Thursday August 06, 2009 @11:50AM
(#745715)
Particularly when you go "against the grain" on here. If I dare say anything negative about LISP, Emacs, the environment or business mentality, I get shot down straight away.
http://arclanguage.org/item?id=10254
It's probably a reflection of the size of HN. The more popular it gets the more people are flowing in at the bottom, to keep the place from descending into mayhem the karma thresholds can be ratcheted up.
200 still seems pretty low though.
200 doesn't seem too difficult, it just appeared strange that when I finally got there it disappeared 2 days later.
Just write a few more insightful comments or submit some good stories and you'll probably be able to downvote again.
In any case, why isn't the threshold value set dynamically? Maybe something like "if the user is within the top 70% of karma earners for the past week AND within the top 85% of karma earners all time" then allow them to downvote. This way it always adjusts to the traffic on the site and doesn't need to be manually changed unless you want to tweak the parameters a bit.
My daily reading list is usually just about exhausted by the time I go to bed, if HN gets any bigger I'll have to get more selective about what I read.
So much interesting stuff gets posted here.
I can't downvote topics. [3446 karma]
As someone else said, if a topic is broken -- spam, stupid or otherwise useless -- it should be flagged appropriately. My two cents, or probably about six cents worth 1 cent in 1987 values.
Seriously, while down votes are needed sometimes, I think they are overused. I often see a legitimate comment voted down because someone apparently disagrees with its contents. This is not what down votes are for.
In other news, "they" didn't laugh at Einstein or Newton, but they did laugh at Bozo the Clown....