I miss the slashdot Insightful/Informative/Funny/etc dropdown that was required to vote.
It would add a lot of value to the downvote button and the "I disagree" option could silently not apply any modifier to prevent groupthink.
It would add a lot of value to the downvote button and the "I disagree" option could silently not apply any modifier to prevent groupthink.
I think the aggressive comment folding also aggravated the lack of interaction. There was no point in replying to a discussion more than 2 levels deep, nobody would see it.
But I do agree that simply disagreeing with someone shouldn't work the same way.
If it were up to me, and aside from the neutral "I disagree", I'd add one for "Factually incorrect" because that's pretty much the only time I downvote on HN.
I notice that often comment blocks will have a confidently incorrect technical post at the top of the discussion followed by a gish gallop of derailed technical debate.