Sometimes a downvote will lead to more overall upvotes than an upvote would have. Just like you can increase the probability of a sentence being quoted by including a typo, on purpose (try it!). Mind games!
Alas, our poor community! It’s too frightened to look at itself. LessWrong is no longer the land where we were born; it’s the land where we’ll die. Where no one ever smiles except for the fool who knows nothing. Where sighs, groans, and shrieks rip through the air but no one notices. Where violent sorrow is a common emotion. When the funeral bells ring, people no longer ask who died. Good men die before the flowers in their caps wilt. They die before they even fall sick.
Exeunt.
(In all earnestness, it works better with comments for which no downvotes would be expected—unlike mine --, the counter-voting will in my experience often overcompensate the initial downvote. So downvote your friends, but only the high status ones on their best comments! It’s a bit like upvoting by proxy, except the proxy is a fellow LWer you’re secretly puppeteering!)
Sometimes a downvote will lead to more overall upvotes than an upvote would have. Just like you can increase the probability of a sentence being quoted by including a typo, on purpose (try it!). Mind games!
OK, I’m trying it on your comment.
Unfortunately, even if the effect is real, hanging a lantern on it probably neutralizes it.
Shooting the messenger! :-(
Exeunt.
(In all earnestness, it works better with comments for which no downvotes would be expected—unlike mine --, the counter-voting will in my experience often overcompensate the initial downvote. So downvote your friends, but only the high status ones on their best comments! It’s a bit like upvoting by proxy, except the proxy is a fellow LWer you’re secretly puppeteering!)
Is this even possible? How would someone know that a comment has been downvoted once it had been voted back up to 0 points?
Hover your mouse over the “n points” text.