No. The solution is to allow downvoting the original submissions, not only the comments.

I see really crappy submissions occasionally. I just don't want them to show and I'd like their authors to refine their submitting strategy, so I just want to downvote. And the argument that I can upvote other stories instead is flawed - it'd require me to be here all the time, which is an evil requirement.

No, there's a third choice. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1777665

[edit: An idea which I wouldn't know about if I hadn't seen it here. For me, HN still is good enough to spend time with. But it has grown less stringent about humor and links to images, which I think reduces S/N.]

...or I can find somewhere else to spend my time. :-)

SUBMIT STORIES

You reach for the moust but it is still dark. You pick up something slightly squishy, it stings you, then eats you.

You are dead, Your score: 6/31337.

Would you like to play again? (Y/N)