I wrote this comment in response to an immediate down-vote of a comment I posted which removed it from view. The tone of which wasn’t all fluffy and nice and safe-space-esk but it was factually correct and an important point. I’d rather be direct on LW than worrying about hurting someone’s feelings.
I can only speak from my experiences, but the speed at which my first post got voted down (alignment and balance of the human body) was a surprise (negative vote = no-one else would see it) After months of consideration the only conclusion I reach is that someone didn’t like me using ‘alignment’ without talking about AI, but I don’t know. There was no explanation. No reason. I get the impression that negative karma is an emotional response rather than rational in many cases.
I don’t know how the “sorted by magic” karma system works and the effect of up-votes on how visible something is, but I have observed that negative votes hides things. Up-votes feel good and the effect of an up-vote is very different from a negative vote so I have no problem with an asymmetry in how they are applied.
As a new user I might have given up on LW but what I am here to share is too important to be put off by a couple of randoms not liking my stuff. It’s not a welcoming place when negative karma is given with no explanation and I’m afraid to say (afraid of more negative votes) there appears to be a lot of cronyism and a degree of myopic thinking on the site (maybe only one or two users but they can have great influence).
I have to give comments on my posts some time to settle when they don’t instantly please me. I believe having to give a reason for a negative vote would encourage this. It’s easy to click down but can it be justified?
I live in hope that people who consider themselves rational can take a step back and think rather than instantly react but we’re still human (all hail the AI master...).
I wrote this comment in response to an immediate down-vote of a comment I posted which removed it from view. The tone of which wasn’t all fluffy and nice and safe-space-esk but it was factually correct and an important point. I’d rather be direct on LW than worrying about hurting someone’s feelings.
I can only speak from my experiences, but the speed at which my first post got voted down (alignment and balance of the human body) was a surprise (negative vote = no-one else would see it) After months of consideration the only conclusion I reach is that someone didn’t like me using ‘alignment’ without talking about AI, but I don’t know. There was no explanation. No reason. I get the impression that negative karma is an emotional response rather than rational in many cases.
I don’t know how the “sorted by magic” karma system works and the effect of up-votes on how visible something is, but I have observed that negative votes hides things. Up-votes feel good and the effect of an up-vote is very different from a negative vote so I have no problem with an asymmetry in how they are applied.
As a new user I might have given up on LW but what I am here to share is too important to be put off by a couple of randoms not liking my stuff. It’s not a welcoming place when negative karma is given with no explanation and I’m afraid to say (afraid of more negative votes) there appears to be a lot of cronyism and a degree of myopic thinking on the site (maybe only one or two users but they can have great influence).
I have to give comments on my posts some time to settle when they don’t instantly please me. I believe having to give a reason for a negative vote would encourage this. It’s easy to click down but can it be justified?
I live in hope that people who consider themselves rational can take a step back and think rather than instantly react but we’re still human (all hail the AI master...).