But I don’t think a comment has to directly serve my terminal values to be worth upvoting.
Agreed, and I may be overbroadening “terminal value” by applying it as “things worth upvoting.” A comment being “nice” makes it more likely that comment will be “helpful,” and I think “helpful” comments are worth upvoting; do I think comments that are nice but not helpful are worth upvoting? Not really, and a policy to upvote for niceness alone won’t capture that value judgment.
But it could be that niceness is the best cause or proxy for desired consequence, and thus is worthwhile.
Agreed, and I may be overbroadening “terminal value” by applying it as “things worth upvoting.” A comment being “nice” makes it more likely that comment will be “helpful,” and I think “helpful” comments are worth upvoting; do I think comments that are nice but not helpful are worth upvoting? Not really, and a policy to upvote for niceness alone won’t capture that value judgment.
But it could be that niceness is the best cause or proxy for desired consequence, and thus is worthwhile.