Better? I made a few posts about my work some years ago an met significantly more naggers and nitpickers than on HN; I didn't see a downvote function (in contrast to the author of the article), but flagging was obviously misused a lot.
Speaking as a regular HN downvotee, I'd say "don't like your facts" accounts for at most 25% of downvoting.
Sure, you can always make a moderation system more complex. At best, that will somewhat reduce the complaints. At the cost of both the added complexity, and all the new-and-undesirable ways in which humans users can interact with that shiny new complexity.
(2020) At the time (118 points, 165 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22146746
Better? I made a few posts about my work some years ago an met significantly more naggers and nitpickers than on HN; I didn't see a downvote function (in contrast to the author of the article), but flagging was obviously misused a lot.
"In order to vote something down, you need to give a reason."
THAT is what Hacker News needs ( and Reddit and Facebook and everywhere else ).
Because "Don't like the facts in your comment" is the reason for 90% of downvotes here.
Rather remove the downvote function completely, because it is mostly misused and stimulates the "lower instincts" of people.
Speaking as a regular HN downvotee, I'd say "don't like your facts" accounts for at most 25% of downvoting.
Sure, you can always make a moderation system more complex. At best, that will somewhat reduce the complaints. At the cost of both the added complexity, and all the new-and-undesirable ways in which humans users can interact with that shiny new complexity.