Please Bring Back Our Downvotes: Society Desperately Needs It
While I don&#x27;t think they are useful, I have come to relish downvotes because if I have provoked a snide response at least it is sincere, where a downvote means I have threatened the integrity of a narrative - and that&#x27;s when you know it&#x27;s quality writing.<p>Downvotes are a substitute for discourse. If want something better, post it. It&#x27;s like someone wanted to design a product for a braying, superstitious mob and created an electronic thumbs down button. I&#x27;m all for giving voice to the voiceless, but downvotes aren&#x27;t speech or a voice, they are a manipulation tool that encourage and reward the absolute worst quality of thought and reasoning.<p>On HN they are somewhat and relatively judicious by convention, but it is not an exaggeration to say there is a cadre of even educated people who believe their intellectual role is not to establish truth or find consensus, but to direct &quot;narrative,&quot; which means specifically to lie and decieve for power. Downvotes are not discourse, they are the exclusive tool of this so-called narrative control. I tolerate downvotes because they draw engagement, even if it is of an inferior kind, and ideally they will be converted from boos to discourse, perhaps even a snide remark.