Notice that Eugine_Nier’s comments have also been voted down en masse. My guess is that at least one person thought that the whole discussion was too close to partisan politics for LessWrong and downvoted all the comments in the thread.
I think that a good policy would be to move this kind of discussions to the monthly Politics thread. (By which I mean not only that Stuart’s original post should have been on there, as someone else said, but also that when a discussion like this one about the Tea Party emerges organically in a non-politics post, a moderator should move the whole subthread to the Politics thread).
Haha, and now the evidence request comment has been voted back up to zero but the one asking why the original was downvoted has been downvoted. Prediction: this post will also be downvoted.
Ah well, whether or not someone out there dislikes my contributions to it, this thread has been worthwhile because it has provided me with important data-points. The most important data-points are always the ones that surprise you. Data-point: some members of Less Wrong are Glenn Beck fans.
Honestly I’m getting tired of people gasping in a horror at the idea that in a readership of hundreds, a single person downvoted them. I also get downvoted. I don’t always feel those downvotes are deserved. Sometimes those comments get upvoted back to zero or beyond, sometimes not. I don’t keep complaining about every single downvote that I feel is undeserved, wasting time and space.
I’ve not downvoted you, but speaking generally I’m very likely to downvote people complaining about downvotes.
Your annoyance has been noted. Keep in mind, though, that I had asked a question in an attempt to see things from Eugine_Nier’s point of view, and that at the time I made the complaining post I hadn’t gotten an answer yet, but had been down-voted for my trouble. It’s poor practice for the community to punish people who make an effort to examine the evidence against their strongly-held opinions, and it’s in my best interests to rail against community behaviour that gets in the way of my own learning. I certainly don’t make a habit of whingeing about every loss of karma that seems unjustified to me—if I thought the loss of karma was deserved then I wouldn’t have made the post in the first place—but I reserve the right to kick up a stink if I think people’s down-votes are obstructing rational process. And, of course, I’m willing to cop any further karma loss that I take as a result as having been sacrificed for a worthy cause. So, go ahead down-voting complainers if that’s what makes you happy, but I’d respectfully like to tender the suggestion that occasionally complaining is the right thing to do.
Notice that Eugine_Nier’s comments have also been voted down en masse. My guess is that at least one person thought that the whole discussion was too close to partisan politics for LessWrong and downvoted all the comments in the thread.
I think that a good policy would be to move this kind of discussions to the monthly Politics thread. (By which I mean not only that Stuart’s original post should have been on there, as someone else said, but also that when a discussion like this one about the Tea Party emerges organically in a non-politics post, a moderator should move the whole subthread to the Politics thread).
Haha, and now the evidence request comment has been voted back up to zero but the one asking why the original was downvoted has been downvoted. Prediction: this post will also be downvoted.
Ah well, whether or not someone out there dislikes my contributions to it, this thread has been worthwhile because it has provided me with important data-points. The most important data-points are always the ones that surprise you. Data-point: some members of Less Wrong are Glenn Beck fans.
Honestly I’m getting tired of people gasping in a horror at the idea that in a readership of hundreds, a single person downvoted them. I also get downvoted. I don’t always feel those downvotes are deserved. Sometimes those comments get upvoted back to zero or beyond, sometimes not. I don’t keep complaining about every single downvote that I feel is undeserved, wasting time and space.
I’ve not downvoted you, but speaking generally I’m very likely to downvote people complaining about downvotes.
Your annoyance has been noted. Keep in mind, though, that I had asked a question in an attempt to see things from Eugine_Nier’s point of view, and that at the time I made the complaining post I hadn’t gotten an answer yet, but had been down-voted for my trouble. It’s poor practice for the community to punish people who make an effort to examine the evidence against their strongly-held opinions, and it’s in my best interests to rail against community behaviour that gets in the way of my own learning. I certainly don’t make a habit of whingeing about every loss of karma that seems unjustified to me—if I thought the loss of karma was deserved then I wouldn’t have made the post in the first place—but I reserve the right to kick up a stink if I think people’s down-votes are obstructing rational process. And, of course, I’m willing to cop any further karma loss that I take as a result as having been sacrificed for a worthy cause. So, go ahead down-voting complainers if that’s what makes you happy, but I’d respectfully like to tender the suggestion that occasionally complaining is the right thing to do.