I didnât get that message at all. If someone tells me they downvoted something I wrote, my default takeaway is âoh, I could have been more clearâ or âhuh, maybe I need to add something that was missingâ â not âyikes, I shouldnât have written thisâ. *
I read Maxâs comment as âI thought this wasnât written very clearly/âgot some things wrongâ, not âI think you shouldnât have written this at allâ. The latter is, to me, almost the definition of a strong downvote.
If someone sees a post they think (a) points to important issues, and (b) gets important things wrong, any of upvote/âdownvote/âdecline-to-vote seems reasonable to me.
*This is partly because Iâve stopped feeling very nervous about Forum posts after years of experience. I know plenty of people who do have the âyikesâ reaction. But thatâs where the usersâ identities and relationship comes into play â Iâd feel somewhat differently had Max said the same thing to a new poster.
I donât share your view about what a downvote means. However, regardless of what I think, it doesnât actually have any fixed meaning beyond that which people a assign to itâso itâd be interesting to have some stats on how people on the forum interpret it.
But thatâs where the usersâ identities and relationship comes into play â Iâd feel somewhat differently had Max said the same thing to a new poster.
Most(?) readers wonât know who either of them is, not to mention their relationship.
I donât share your view about what a downvote means.
What does a downvote mean to you? If it means âyou shouldnât have written thisâ, what does a strong downvote mean to you? The same thing, but with more emphasis?
Itâd be interesting to have some stats on how people on the forum interpret it.
Why not create a poll? I would, but Iâm not sure exactly which question youâd want asked.
Most(?) readers wonât know who either of them is, not to mention their relationship.
Which brings up another question â to what extent should a comment be written for an author vs. the audience?
Maxâs comment seemed very directed at Luke â it was mostly about the style of Lukeâs writing and his way of drawing conclusions. Other comments feel more audience-directed.
Personally, I primarily downvote posts/âcomments where I generally think âreading this post/âcomment will on average make forum readers be worse at thinking about this problem than if they didnât read this post/âcomment, assuming that the time spent reading this post/âcomment is free.â
I basically never strong downvote posts unless itâs obvious spam or otherwise an extremely bad offender in the âworsens thinkingâ direction.
Itâs been over a week so I guess I should answer even if I donât have time for a longer reply.
What does a downvote mean to you? If it means âyou shouldnât have written thisâ, what does a strong downvote mean to you? The same thing, but with more emphasis?
I think so, but Iâm not very confident.
to what extent should a comment be written for an author vs. the audience?
I donât think private conversations can exist on a public platform. If itâs not a DM, thereâs always an audience, and in most contexts, Iâd expect much of a commentâs impact to come from its effects on that audience.
Why not create a poll?
The polls in that specific group look like they have a very small and probably unrepresentative sample size. Though I donât weâll be able to get a much larger one on such a question, I guess.
I didnât get that message at all. If someone tells me they downvoted something I wrote, my default takeaway is âoh, I could have been more clearâ or âhuh, maybe I need to add something that was missingâ â not âyikes, I shouldnât have written thisâ. *
I read Maxâs comment as âI thought this wasnât written very clearly/âgot some things wrongâ, not âI think you shouldnât have written this at allâ. The latter is, to me, almost the definition of a strong downvote.
If someone sees a post they think (a) points to important issues, and (b) gets important things wrong, any of upvote/âdownvote/âdecline-to-vote seems reasonable to me.
*This is partly because Iâve stopped feeling very nervous about Forum posts after years of experience. I know plenty of people who do have the âyikesâ reaction. But thatâs where the usersâ identities and relationship comes into play â Iâd feel somewhat differently had Max said the same thing to a new poster.
I donât share your view about what a downvote means. However, regardless of what I think, it doesnât actually have any fixed meaning beyond that which people a assign to itâso itâd be interesting to have some stats on how people on the forum interpret it.
Most(?) readers wonât know who either of them is, not to mention their relationship.
What does a downvote mean to you? If it means âyou shouldnât have written thisâ, what does a strong downvote mean to you? The same thing, but with more emphasis?
Why not create a poll? I would, but Iâm not sure exactly which question youâd want asked.
Which brings up another question â to what extent should a comment be written for an author vs. the audience?
Maxâs comment seemed very directed at Luke â it was mostly about the style of Lukeâs writing and his way of drawing conclusions. Other comments feel more audience-directed.
Personally, I primarily downvote posts/âcomments where I generally think âreading this post/âcomment will on average make forum readers be worse at thinking about this problem than if they didnât read this post/âcomment, assuming that the time spent reading this post/âcomment is free.â
I basically never strong downvote posts unless itâs obvious spam or otherwise an extremely bad offender in the âworsens thinkingâ direction.
Itâs been over a week so I guess I should answer even if I donât have time for a longer reply.
I think so, but Iâm not very confident.
I donât think private conversations can exist on a public platform. If itâs not a DM, thereâs always an audience, and in most contexts, Iâd expect much of a commentâs impact to come from its effects on that audience.
The polls in that specific group look like they have a very small and probably unrepresentative sample size. Though I donât weâll be able to get a much larger one on such a question, I guess.