That assumes people downvote only when a comment is not good or relevant.
They don't. The majority of people will downvote the comment because they disagree with it.
There is no way to disagree with the groupthink, without expecting to be downvoted.
They don't. The majority of people will downvote the comment because they disagree with it.
There is no way to disagree with the groupthink, without expecting to be downvoted.
I personally would love it if downvotes required an explanation. Such would be a great way to separate the "your comment was out of line for legitimate reason" type of downvote vs. the "I'm downvoting you because you're wrong and I'm not even going to say why" type of downvote.
You can learn something from the former type of downvote; the later sort of downvote is completely useless.
It comes down to, its more effective to lead a conversation than to just dispute and disagree. Its true on the internet; its true in person.
Then expect to be downvoted without explicitly posting that expectation. Nothing good will come of it.
Please resist commenting about being downvoted. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.
Please don't bait other users by inviting them to downvote you or proclaim that you expect to get downvoted.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
You may not agree with it (which is fine), but it's largely accepted by the community.