> Please don't downvote parent if you disagree with parent's opinion, downvote only if it doesn't contribute to the discussion
You are wrong. It's absolutely fine to downvote on disagreement. See the following comment from pg himself:
You are wrong. It's absolutely fine to downvote on disagreement. See the following comment from pg himself:
When you come to a new site, it's usually considered civil to learn the rules of that site, although of course I cannot force you to do so. For example, assuming that reddit rules apply on HN is kinda silly. Relatedly, you might be interested to note that there are dozens of HN old-timers that will automatically downvote (nearly) any comment that contains a "downvote me if you want" or a "don't just downvote me if you disagree" or "these downvotes are BS" or something.
You're right, though, that not all users agree. And hopefully you learn from this comment that it's okay, on HN, to downvote me if you disagree, even if you think I contributed to the conversation.
PS: welcome to HN.
What does ownership have to do with it?
That does not make him more right than any other human being.
Ownership means one can impose ones will, it does not mean you are omniscient.
No, just the only relevant person to say what is welcome and allowed in HIS social bookmarking forum and what's not.
>Ownership means one can impose ones will, it does not mean you are omniscient.
"House rules" are not meant to be perfect or agreeable to all -- they are just meant to be whatever those running and owing the house decide.
What does ownership have to do with it, you fucking moron?
That does not make him more right than any other human being. Ownership means one can impose ones will, it does not mean you are omniscient.
I'd say "you fucking moron" besides rude, is grounds for killing your account.
As to the question, rules on any property, including a website, are usually imposed by the owner.
That's what "ownership" has to do with it.
There are moderators, and comment and submission rules in places. Maybe you conflated HN with some kind of self-governing collective?
>That does not make him more right than any other human being. Ownership means one can impose ones will, it does not mean you are omniscient.
You wrote that again and I already answered. Nobody cares about PG being omniscient. He can impose ANY arbitrary will (right or wrong), because it's his site. He can even close it if he gets bored with it. Whether you or I find any particular rule "right" is inconsequential, as we're guests here, not even customers.
Besides, votes are used for agreement more than for any other purpose, and given that there's no way to force people to not do this, let's just dispense with the fiction that they can ever mean anything else. "Please no downvote" is just noise.
This is our website. Maybe pg 'made' it, but we use it. If most of us disagree that is what will (and should in my opinion) happen.
He can always close down the side.
Besides, it's not about "what is he going to do" -- it's about what people coming here should respect.
Therefore, what matters most in practice is the mass opinion of users of the site - what do we think is most useful and respectful in daily usage (following Paul Graham's lead to be respectful because we can all agree that this is a good idea).