While I disagree with rhollerith below, I also sometimes downvote (or upvote) from the user page (though less frequently than from ‘recent comments’). Sometimes I read a comment so obscure (or so brilliant) that I feel the need to look back and see if this person has made a lot of comparable comments that have been neglected.
Of course, I haven’t been able to downvote at all for some time.
I, too, sometimes read from a user’s user-page and up- or down-vote comments according to my impressions of their individual quality.
This wouldn’t create the −50 karma jump conchis describes, at least the way I do it, but it is evidence that orthonormal’s suggestion would have some costs.
While I disagree with rhollerith below, I also sometimes downvote (or upvote) from the user page (though less frequently than from ‘recent comments’). Sometimes I read a comment so obscure (or so brilliant) that I feel the need to look back and see if this person has made a lot of comparable comments that have been neglected.
Of course, I haven’t been able to downvote at all for some time.
I, too, sometimes read from a user’s user-page and up- or down-vote comments according to my impressions of their individual quality.
This wouldn’t create the −50 karma jump conchis describes, at least the way I do it, but it is evidence that orthonormal’s suggestion would have some costs.