thomblake comments on On Comments, Voting, and Karma - Part I - Less Wrong

7 Post author: thomblake 07 April 2009 02:44AM

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Comment author: thomblake 07 April 2009 08:22:13PM 1 point [-]

If that was automatic, it would be a problem for me. I often go back through the recent comments listing and do a flurry of quality-control voting; otherwise, comments on older posts slip through the cracks.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 07 April 2009 08:56:52PM *  5 points [-]

I worry that some people may hold conflicting views on what the comments are for.

  • First, comments may act as little notes, contributing a piece of information or insight, relevant to the context in which it's made.
  • Second, comments may serve communication, letting a specific person know something, correcting a mistake, voicing an opinion, adding a detail to resolve an earlier misunderstanding.

Relevant communication must not be punished. There is no way to support a conversation without these communication comments that are not intended to hold generally appreciated pearls of wisdom in them.

Comment author: thomblake 09 April 2009 02:41:45PM 1 point [-]

I think this better reflects conflicting views on what voting is for. I don't vote something down as punishment; I vote it down because I don't think it's interesting enough to belong at the top of the page.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 09 April 2009 03:13:49PM *  1 point [-]

If posting a certain kind of comments results in expected decrease in karma, people will avoid doing that, so there is an inseparable component of punishment. What you say would only work if there were two separate comment ratings, one for other readers, and one for the writer. Essentially, the hard/soft voting distinction developed to play this role.

Comment author: thomblake 09 April 2009 03:42:02PM 1 point [-]

I suppose that's true if people would really take a decrease in karma as a reason not to post a comment.

If people are doing that, they probably should be punished for it.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 09 April 2009 04:13:07PM 4 points [-]

I'll see about adding the ability to vote down comments that weren't posted for not being posted.

Comment author: thomblake 09 April 2009 05:17:58PM 0 points [-]

My (somewhat limited) knowledge of Python suggests to me that this would not be an easy task; I daresay it might be nearly impossible.

But I agree - we should implement something like that if we can.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 09 April 2009 04:25:32PM 0 points [-]

I suppose that's true if people would really take a decrease in karma as a reason not to post a comment.
If people are doing that, they probably should be punished for it.

You are evil.

Comment author: thomblake 09 April 2009 05:16:30PM 0 points [-]

You are evil.

I have to know - in what sense did you mean this? "not morally good"? "deviously scheming to align the world with my preferences"? "hates paladins"?

For now, I'll just take it as a compliment.

Comment author: anonym 07 April 2009 10:24:56PM 1 point [-]

I said userpage, not recent comments. If you don't often view all comments of just a single user and then issue 20 or more downvotes in quick succession, I wasn't suggesting anything that would affect you. There are lots of abuses that can't easily be caught, but abuse like I've outlined, which based on comments here has occurred a few times recently, should be easy to catch.

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