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Implore HN: Stop making low-effort comments, and downvote low-effort comments

18 points by simonsarris ↗ HN
Lately (last ~3 months) I've seen a lot more one line comments on HN with sarcastic, jokey, snarky, or flippant content.

Please don't comment unless you really feel you are adding something. Those with downvote powers, please downvote those comments when you see them.

There are no shortage of sites where peanut gallery comments are the norm, and I think we should continue to discourage them here as much as possible.

7 comments

[ 0.23 ms ] story [ 28.5 ms ] thread
nickpsecurity
You've set yourself up to learn a valuable lesson about human nature. The kind of people who care so little about the quality expectation here will also not care about any comment or rule asking them to change their behavior. This is why wrecks still happen at street lights despite clear rules and risk of death for violating them. This principle means your post is entirely worthless as it's asking selfish, uncaring people to be selfless and care.

It will save you energy and stress is you just stop doing that. Not just here but everywhere. Try to enact change where it matters with receptive audiences. Anything else is usually a waste. Your impact on the world will go up.

Note: Those of us downvoting or flagging spam will continue to do our part here of course.

simonsarris
I'm not aiming this at flippant users, I'm aiming it at "newer" users with newly-acquired downvote powers who might have never downvoted, or older users who don't vote often.

If this topic got popular, it could be seen by some as an endorsement of using their power to more aggressively prune flippant comments. Some people don't do things unless they know the community endorses it, and that was the goal.

Alas, it looks like this topic won't make it far.

veddox
Of course you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but describing everybody who posts low-quality comments as "selfish, uncaring people" is pretty extreme (and not a little unkind in itself). I think many of them are simply new to HN and not yet aware of the way things are done around here. And for these newbies, posts like the one above are exactly what we need.

One thing I like about HN is that it is very self-observant. Although I sometimes tire of the repetitive posts on what constitutes a bad comment, or what downvoting should be used for, it is precisely these constant discussions that ensure that every regular HNer knows what is expected of him/her.

Finally, I think we're already pretty good at handling negative comments. So far, the combination of flagging, downvoting and commenting has worked pretty well - even if it isn't completely perfect. I still have hope for the future :-)

nickpsecurity
The last thing in your post works well. Everything up to it got 18 votes with 5 comments that mostly countered the OP. Evidence seems to be in my favor that posts like above are foolish and will be largely ignored.

Voting, flagging, and commenting in threads where the behavior shows up are best approach.

stocktech
HN is a community like any other. As much as people want to engage with like minded people, they also want to relax, joke, and have fun with like minded people.

You need to lighten up.