all the comments were from people who just wanted to point out that the article was not interesting to them.
That was the impulse for this suggestion of mine: I was trying to think of a system that acknowledges the existence of these dissenters without encouraging them to occupy too much space on the comments page.
Oh I'm not saying your suggestion is a bad idea. Not at all.. The placebo idea is actually kinda clever. :)
But I think in general it's better just to be mindful that different people have different interests. I'm glad that I'm exposed to a broad range of topics on this site, even if I don't find all of it interesting.
Although, that said.. the obvious link bait type articles "Top 10 ways to blah blah" are pretty annoying. :P
I wonder if it would be possible for downvotes to count, not against karma, but only for an individually calculated gravity? This way, you could accelerate the fall of links you don't like, but only for yourself.
That was the impulse for this suggestion of mine: I was trying to think of a system that acknowledges the existence of these dissenters without encouraging them to occupy too much space on the comments page.