I think downvotes are generally useful to other readers (though it’s odd that the parent suggestion has one as I type), but I agree that people should be protected from the discouraging effect of an early, single downvote. So, why not postpone displaying the negative score to the user for long enough for possible upvotes to counter? (I don’t volunteer to implement this).
The fact that reinforcement can be very effective in changing frequency of behavior doesn’t say that punishment should never be used to change the frequency of behavior.
Reinforcement is useful for increasing frequency of behavior. When decreased frequency of behavior is desired, punishment is the type of intervention to use. (For applied behavior analysis, those are the definitions of reinforcement and punishment).
Sure. Although I wasn’t clear about this, I had in mind the common case of a non-punishing downvoter who simply disagrees with the comment (or wants to see less of its ilk) without saying why. In case punishment is the desired effect, you’re right—immediate is better.
I think downvotes are generally useful to other readers (though it’s odd that the parent suggestion has one as I type), but I agree that people should be protected from the discouraging effect of an early, single downvote. So, why not postpone displaying the negative score to the user for long enough for possible upvotes to counter? (I don’t volunteer to implement this).
The fact that reinforcement can be very effective in changing frequency of behavior doesn’t say that punishment should never be used to change the frequency of behavior.
Reinforcement is useful for increasing frequency of behavior. When decreased frequency of behavior is desired, punishment is the type of intervention to use. (For applied behavior analysis, those are the definitions of reinforcement and punishment).
Sure. Although I wasn’t clear about this, I had in mind the common case of a non-punishing downvoter who simply disagrees with the comment (or wants to see less of its ilk) without saying why. In case punishment is the desired effect, you’re right—immediate is better.
Either punishment or extinction#Operant_conditioning) (no punishment, no reward).
Be aware that some people upvote comments “back to zero” that they wouldn’t otherwise upvote. (Some other people consider this bad practice.)