Comment by pbhjpbhj

12 years ago

TBH that's the only use of votes I've seen agreed on as valid here.

Despite your relative long-standing I'll bow to your claim of factuality and request citation of that fact?

5 comments

pbhjpbhj

Do the first two links I listed here count? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7451438

I wouldn't say it's ever been agreed on; I'm pretty sure people disagreed about this from day one. And downvoted each other about it :)

pbhjpbhj 12 years ago
Both of those links (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=658683) appear to be simply pg saying people do downvote when they disagree rather than him endorsing that activity.
Indeed the first link says in part:
>"I think it's ok to use the up and down arrows to express agreement."
Which reads to me as having an implicit "also to express agreement" especially in the context of the thread. The thread consensus appears to favour not downvoting for mere disagreement (but I would say that !).
In the past when we had votes visible we'd have been able to tell better the general consensus from that information.
So, I upvoted you for making your point well; presumably you downvoted me as you disagreed.
- gruseom 12 years ago
  
  Those two comments are far from the only data points, though. But now I really am too lazy to look any more up.
  My memory is simply that PG always said downvoting for disagreement was fine and many users have always thought he made the wrong call. Still, it's his site, so his call to make.
  The interesting thing to me is how confident these users are that they're quoting the site rules, when really they're contradicting them, de facto if not de jure. Just like a lot of us Canadians think that famous U.S. laws (e.g. Miranda rights) apply here, because we've seen them many times on TV, so a lot of HNers assume that this Reddit rule exists on HN.
  > presumably you downvoted me as you disagreed
  Couldn't! Also wouldn'tve.
  
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