It drives me crazy.

I know it's well intentioned, but this power in the hands of a few seems to do more harm than good. Why not just let the populous up/down vote things as they see fit?

I wouldn't have upvoted an article about the general ruble decline (it's not news to me). I would (and did) upvote an article Apple halting Russian sales.

> I know it's well intentioned, but this power in the hands of a few seems to do more harm than good. Why not just let the populous up/down vote things as they see fit?

Err... this isn't a democracy and has never claimed to be one.

This particular change was a mistake and we fixed it.

> It drives me crazy.

I can understand that, and it bothers me that even one user feels this way. Unfortunately, every time I sit down to reply, multiple paragraphs insist on coming out, and I haven't had time to edit them. I'll try to come back and post something later. (Edit: sorry, I guess it'll have to be another time.)

Sorry if I come across as rude but the original submission "made it" to the frontage as is.

HN needs to stop doing this kind of thing, particularly when the (admittedly ancient infrastructure) doesn't add an "edited" declaration, etc.

Thanks for saying it. I wanted to but didn't dare.