I think downvoting comments like the above is harmful:
It disincentivises people to make honest efforts to express dissenting views, thus contributing towards creating echo chambers.
It increases polarisation.
I assume people who believe they are unfairly downvoted will tend to unfairly downvote others more.
I had initially not upvoted/downvoted the original post, but then felt like I should downvote the post given my perception that the comment above was unfairly downvoted. I do not endorse my initial retaliatory reaction, and have now upvoted the post as a way of trying to counter my bad intuitions.
For what it’s worth, I upvoted and disagree-voted, because I think I think you’re wrong and because you clearly put thought and effort into your writing, and produced the sort of content I think we should generally have more of, even though I’m annoyed locally that “don’t do either” is a much easier comment to write than “here’s the analysis you asked for”, leading to the only serious comments on the post being people stating your view.
I think downvoting comments like the above is harmful:
It disincentivises people to make honest efforts to express dissenting views, thus contributing towards creating echo chambers.
It increases polarisation.
I assume people who believe they are unfairly downvoted will tend to unfairly downvote others more.
I had initially not upvoted/downvoted the original post, but then felt like I should downvote the post given my perception that the comment above was unfairly downvoted. I do not endorse my initial retaliatory reaction, and have now upvoted the post as a way of trying to counter my bad intuitions.
For what it’s worth, I upvoted and disagree-voted, because I think I think you’re wrong and because you clearly put thought and effort into your writing, and produced the sort of content I think we should generally have more of, even though I’m annoyed locally that “don’t do either” is a much easier comment to write than “here’s the analysis you asked for”, leading to the only serious comments on the post being people stating your view.
Thanks, Keller! That makes sense to me.