First; downvoted comments are available to be read, yes; but the default settings hide comments with 2 or more net downvotes. This is enough to be reasonably considered ‘suppression’. It’s not all that much suppression, true, but it is suppression… and it is enough to discourage dissent. Actual moderation of comments is a separate issue entirely, and not one which I will address here.
Second; when I posted my reply, and as of this moment, my original comment was at −3. I agree; net karma isn’t actually a huge deal, except that it is, as has been observed, the most prevalent means by which dissent is suppressed. In my case, at least, ‘this will probably get downvoted’ feels like a reason to not post something. Not much of a reason, true, but enough of one that I can identify the feeling of reluctance.
Third; on the subreddits I follow (admittedly a shallow sampling), I have frequently seen comments explaining downvotes, sometimes in response to a request specifically for such feedback, but just as often not. I suspect that this has a lot to do with the “Down-voting? Please leave an explanation in the comments.” message that appears when mousing over the downvote icon. I am aware that this is not universal across Reddit, but on the subreddits I follow, it seems to work reasonably well.
Fourth; I agree that this is a possible result. Like I said before, I’m not sure if there is a good solution to this problem, but I do feel that it’d result in a better state then that which currently exists, if people would more explicitly explain why they downvote when they choose to do so. That said, given that downvoted comments are hidden from default view anyway, and that those who choose to do so can easily ignore such comments, I don’t think it’d have all that much effect on the signal/noise ratio.
Fifth; on the subreddits I follow, it seems as though there is less in the way of complaints about downvotes, and more honest inquiries as to why a comment has been downvoted; such questions seem to usually receive honest responses. This may be anomalous within Reddit as a whole; as I said before, my own experience with Reddit is a shallow sampling.
First; downvoted comments are available to be read, yes; but the default settings hide comments with 2 or more net downvotes. This is enough to be reasonably considered ‘suppression’. It’s not all that much suppression, true, but it is suppression… and it is enough to discourage dissent. Actual moderation of comments is a separate issue entirely, and not one which I will address here.
Second; when I posted my reply, and as of this moment, my original comment was at −3. I agree; net karma isn’t actually a huge deal, except that it is, as has been observed, the most prevalent means by which dissent is suppressed. In my case, at least, ‘this will probably get downvoted’ feels like a reason to not post something. Not much of a reason, true, but enough of one that I can identify the feeling of reluctance.
Third; on the subreddits I follow (admittedly a shallow sampling), I have frequently seen comments explaining downvotes, sometimes in response to a request specifically for such feedback, but just as often not. I suspect that this has a lot to do with the “Down-voting? Please leave an explanation in the comments.” message that appears when mousing over the downvote icon. I am aware that this is not universal across Reddit, but on the subreddits I follow, it seems to work reasonably well.
Fourth; I agree that this is a possible result. Like I said before, I’m not sure if there is a good solution to this problem, but I do feel that it’d result in a better state then that which currently exists, if people would more explicitly explain why they downvote when they choose to do so. That said, given that downvoted comments are hidden from default view anyway, and that those who choose to do so can easily ignore such comments, I don’t think it’d have all that much effect on the signal/noise ratio.
Fifth; on the subreddits I follow, it seems as though there is less in the way of complaints about downvotes, and more honest inquiries as to why a comment has been downvoted; such questions seem to usually receive honest responses. This may be anomalous within Reddit as a whole; as I said before, my own experience with Reddit is a shallow sampling.