You’re getting downvoted for overconfidence, not for the content of your point of view.
If denis is just being overconfident, couldn’t we just say “you’re being overconfident here, probably because you neglected to consider …” and reserve downvotes for trolls and nonsense (i.e., comments that clearly deserve to be hidden from view)?
Downvotes signal “would like to see fewer comments like this one”. This certainly applies to trolls and nonsense, but it feels appropriate to use the same signal for comments which, if the author had taken a little more time to compose, readers wouldn’t need to spend time correcting one way or another. The calculation I’ve seen at least once here (and I tend to agree with) is that you should value your readers’ time about 10x more than you value yours.
The appropriate thing to do if you receive downvotes and you’re neither a troll nor a crackpot seems to simply ask what’s wrong. Complaining only makes things worse. Complaining that the community is exhibiting censorship or groupthink makes things much worse.
Looking at the comment in question, Denis claims that charity “only” rewards bad things and discourages good ones. That is nonsense on its face, and it’s combined with mind-killing politics: ideological libertarianism about the immorality of paying taxes that benefit those labelled dysfunctional. I agree with Robin Hanson on this point.
If denis is just being overconfident, couldn’t we just say “you’re being overconfident here, probably because you neglected to consider …” and reserve downvotes for trolls and nonsense (i.e., comments that clearly deserve to be hidden from view)?
Downvotes signal “would like to see fewer comments like this one”. This certainly applies to trolls and nonsense, but it feels appropriate to use the same signal for comments which, if the author had taken a little more time to compose, readers wouldn’t need to spend time correcting one way or another. The calculation I’ve seen at least once here (and I tend to agree with) is that you should value your readers’ time about 10x more than you value yours.
The appropriate thing to do if you receive downvotes and you’re neither a troll nor a crackpot seems to simply ask what’s wrong. Complaining only makes things worse. Complaining that the community is exhibiting censorship or groupthink makes things much worse.
Looking at the comment in question, Denis claims that charity “only” rewards bad things and discourages good ones. That is nonsense on its face, and it’s combined with mind-killing politics: ideological libertarianism about the immorality of paying taxes that benefit those labelled dysfunctional. I agree with Robin Hanson on this point.