I find it depressing that your comment was down-voted by at least two people — two people who, by virtue of their karma, are supposed to somehow have an understanding of what a productive comment is and what it isn't. The response your comment has received from these Gaurdian[1]-like members of our supposed nerd virtual polis[1] is evidence that you have a point.
Several weeks ago, Daring Fireball featured a link to an exchange between Ian Fleming and a man who wrote him offering suggestions (and a critique of James Bond's current) pistol selection. In a comment here at HN, I believe, someone noted the civility, the maturity of the exchange.
I thought about that comment, and I decided that I was going to try to restrain myself and make comments that a hypothetical adult might make.
HN is part of a problem, and that problem is what I'll call the cable news-ification of everything. No, not the Fox News-ification, but the cable news-ification, because the premise of all these channels is that when something happens, the most important thing is to have an opinion about what happened, and to broadcast and debate that opinion as vigorously as possible.
Wasn't me! I have a strict policy of either down voting or responding but never both. If a comment doesn't contribute to the discussion, I down vote it and move along. If it merits a response, it clearly is doing something of value to engage me, and the back-and-forth may uncover something else interesting.
"I find it depressing that your comment was down-voted by at least two people — two people who, by virtue of their karma, are supposed to somehow have an understanding of what a productive comment is and what it isn't."
Am I missing something, or how can one possibly see a list of downvoters for a given comment?
I don't, unfortunately, have any special insight into the voting system. I knew that it was downvoted more than once because my re-upvote didn't turn the comment black, meaning that its score was less than zero.
I've (mistakenly) assumed that you need to see the list of downvoters to make a statement such as edw's, whereas I now see how, having information you and edw provided, you can just infer this statement.
Several weeks ago, Daring Fireball featured a link to an exchange between Ian Fleming and a man who wrote him offering suggestions (and a critique of James Bond's current) pistol selection. In a comment here at HN, I believe, someone noted the civility, the maturity of the exchange.
I thought about that comment, and I decided that I was going to try to restrain myself and make comments that a hypothetical adult might make.
HN is part of a problem, and that problem is what I'll call the cable news-ification of everything. No, not the Fox News-ification, but the cable news-ification, because the premise of all these channels is that when something happens, the most important thing is to have an opinion about what happened, and to broadcast and debate that opinion as vigorously as possible.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Republic_(Plato)