Off-topic, but HN needs review of flagging abuse. Maybe assign flagging privileges only to those with X reputation, and revocation if on review the privilege is abused?
It seems that flagging is as much "I don't like this" as "this is not appropriate".
Likewise downvoting. Maybe instead display both downvotes and upvotes, so people can see if a comment is found controversial?
Lately I've had comments swing wildly dozens of points in each direction and also flagged. Brigadiering has come to HN and is getting worse over time. There seems to be a growing segment of internet users who wish to cleanse perceived wrong think, it is disturbing and not what flags/downvotes are for. It also feels like there is more bots.
The trouble is, you can't -- only the commenter can see their score swings, and then only if they pay attention.
Publishing upvotes and downvotes would allow others to see these effects, and would allow them to register a comment as "controversial" rather than "not worthy of notice".
There are two things I've always wanted out of a comment system that allows up and down votes:
1. I want to know who upvoted/downvoted/flagged a comment so I can identify attempts at censorship, revenge voting/flagging, etc.
2. I want the ability to exclude individuals from the upvote/downvote tally I see.
For example, if I see someone downvoting every post that is favorable to Elmer Fudd, or upvoting every post that is favorable to Bugs Bunny, I want to block that person's emotional bias from the rankings I see in order for my view of the comment section to be as objective as possible.
Well yeah, there are a lot of those "controversial" subjects that attract far-left far-right flamewars and this has normalized using downvotes/flags as a weapon. Even about innocuous things. Which is... weird and sad.
It seems that flagging is as much "I don't like this" as "this is not appropriate".
Likewise downvoting. Maybe instead display both downvotes and upvotes, so people can see if a comment is found controversial?