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Vladimir_Nesov comments on Open thread, 21-27 April 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion

5 Post author: Metus 21 April 2014 10:54AM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 26 April 2014 08:46:04PM *  6 points [-]

the emotional signal from getting a downvoting is very different from the emotional signal of not getting an upvote

Exactly, and this is a reason why downvoting is important (and shouldn't be systematically countered): it allows scaring people away (who are not of our tribe). A forum culture that would merely abstain from upvoting is worse at scaring people away than one that actively downvotes.