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Comment by rmbyrro | Hacker News Reader

I don't think this is a political advocacy. It's just a personal expression about a social issue. I found the way it was written quite thoughtful, actually, which I respect (though I don't like in its entirety).

But I upvoted your comment because I don't think there's a reason for people to downvote your comment.

It's absolutely acceptable that someone dislikes the poem and wants to express it here.

People confuse the purpose of "downvote". It's not for disagreement. Downvoting buries a comment. We shouldn't bury something just because we disagree with it. That's against one of the most basic human freedom value. If it's just a disagreement, reply to it expressing your view.

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If an upvote is for agreement, does downvoting for disagreement not make sense? Or are upvotes meant for something else?

Upvotes are meant to signify productive conversation, not necessarily that you agree with it.

from the guidelines:

    Users should vote and comment when they run across something they personally find interesting

Also:

    Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.

Well... sorry then :-)

And final:

    Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. That tramples curiosity.

> It never does any good

I do feel like it can help to break the herd mentality thing of "if it's already downvoted, downvote it more" by making people think about why they've done it

I don't particularly care what the venture capitalists who own this website want me to do. Nor is it surprising that they don't want politics here. Political consciousness can only be bad news for the uber-wealthy.

There needs to be a separate mechanism for disagreement versus quality (affecting ranking). Both of these should be separate from flagging for moderation.

There is. Replying. If there already is a disagreeing reply, you can upvote that. Downvoting a constructive and well-written post just because you disagree is not justified.

I downvoted it because it just leads to 2/3s of the thread being an off topic flame-war.

Also like others have said, upvotes are not for agreeing. They are for rewarding higher quality discussion, on topic discussion, etc.

I think it's clear in my comment that I do not agree. I start with that upfront. I upvoted only to counter what I think are unfair downvotes.

I upvoted to counter what I think it's an unfair downvote.

I wouldn't upvote if people were not unfairly downvoting.

This person has the right to express here and to have their expression viewed by others.

If too many people downvote, they're denied this right.

I don't know if that's what you're implying, but I didn't suggest voting for agreement or even that I upvoted because I agree.

My comment starts with a disagreement, actually.

I said I upvoted because I think it's a fair expression that does not deserve to be buried. Downvotes can bury someone else's comment.

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