The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)
It&#x27;s kind of amusing that the entire premise of this article is undone by the aside:<p>&gt; <i>update: Apparently it is possible to downvote comments, which I never realized.</i><p>But while downvotes seem useful for <i>comments</i> where there&#x27;s a lot more scope for false information, trolling, etc., I&#x27;m not sure what the additional value would be for <i>posts</i> -- they&#x27;re either popular or not, and you can still flag posts that are actively harmful.<p>And then this:<p>&gt; <i>Is it realistic for users to expect to post in an environment where there are no penalties at all, no way for their peers to express disapproval or disagreement with their post?</i><p>Huh? Peers express disapproval and disagreement by <i>commenting within the post</i>. As I am doing precisely right now. ;)<p>Jeff Atwood is a super-smart guy who&#x27;s done amazing things but this particular piece leaves me quite baffled.