Do you get addicted to your HN votes like normal people do to Instagram?

The absolute votes? No. In fact most of my higher vote comments are lower in substance (because people won't read long/nuanced posts, they want short black & white answers).

But it does irk me slightly when someone will -1 a comment without an explanation/response. I don't mind an active counter-view (heck, I may learn I was wrong!), it is the silent dismissal I cannot stand (and often seems knee-jerky when you criticize a sacred cow company/product).

But like all complaints like this, I am a giant hypocrite and have downvoted comments without responding.

I do too, so i just zapped the vote counter using ublock so i can't glance at it. I'm also regularly hit by the "someone's wrong on the internet" syndrome, so i've decided to browse hn logged-out, unless i really want to answer. Logging-in is actually quick, but it makes me think about what i'm doing. That way i stop myself from intervening in any opinion rage.

Eh. I do like the upvotes, I get dopamine, but it's not the kind of dopamine that makes me want to spit out more posts and spend more time here, it's more like "oh nice, I helped that person"

Yes, but then I remind myself that (while me and other readers have overlap in tech interests), we have different socioeconomic backgrounds and that shapes how we view the world, and the implications that has for tech. But it also depends on the type of posts I'm participating in. The less emotional the subject, the better it tends to be here.

You guys are getting upvotes?

No, though it makes sense that people would. It’s validation of like minded folks. It feels good to make a point and have others agree with it. It’s human nature.

Not significant. Used mostly to gauge folk's reactions, temper comments to not offend etc. Negative votes are just disagreement, not an attack, so I have no emotion investment.

Further, my comments that have gotten the largest uptick, are uniformely silly offhand comments of no merit. It's enough to teach me, they aren't meaningful.

What I feel is usually, "oh nice/no, what did get upvoted/downvoted though?"

The emotional reaction is stronger when the points upvoted/downvoted are close to my personal values are well taken.

Like when I comment about being critical and unbiased about anything, about constant improvements, and people upvotes, it is really satisfying. Vice versa, especially silent downvotes where you "cant see the enemy".

But when I talk about the trivial things, votes don't mean much.

What are "normal people" are addicted to on Instagram, likes? I only follow people I consider actual friends and I can't think of any people I follow that would be like that, but maybe that just has to do with who I hang out with?

Don't care about the score but I often find myself opening HN even when I just closed it. I often block it via hosts, apps, or the built-in settings.

Not at all. This is a place I post my honest thoughts on things regardless of the points. Sometimes I'm downvoted, even ridiculed(perhaps fairly), and I take zero offense to any of it. Similarly, I get no 'high' off something that scores upvotes. I think HN does a pretty good job of helping this by not showing everyone's score, not notifying you someone replied to your post, not having reactions, etc.

Not really. Too much emotional down-voting for me to care or find it of any useful information.

Obviously just my personal opinion.

tldr: Give less f's, awesome will flow with fewer inhibitions, and stress will melt like an ice chip on a New York sidewalk during the summer solstice. Some things will fall flat because they seemed awesome only to you, but that's okay.

This isn't gram obviously, which I nuked because it wasn't serving a business or personal branding purpose for sometime, but I will slip back in for a vintage car restoration.

If someone cares about votes, they'll be a slave to them and:

- worry more what other people think of them that writing, doing, or creating

- they'll censor themselves about something they feel strongly about and regret it

- they'll do something incredibly stupid for attention and regret it, such as jumping on top of a moving freight train. Don't. Or get pulled over by 4 UFOs for doing a buck 40 (mph, that's 225 kph). Don't do that either. Or drop a cover over their motorcycle license plate and outrun the cops from a highway on city streets. Don't do that either. Or have insanely hot sex at work in the back stairwell just before the lunch rush. You get the idea. You don't need social media for the best things in life; some things are best not shared but lifecasting is cool too.

- Don't become a trained monkey performer unless it's a determined career path.

On HN, express yourself with reason and evidence, and let the chips fall where they may. On gram, it's different because it's about displaying moments, creations, and art publicly and let the critics do whatever the heck they're going to do; it's a museum or a show-and-tell where folks have probably had some champagne already and also cyberdisinhibitionism, so feedback needs some big ass grains of salt.

Meditate on being more like Peter in Office Space after hypnosis and be awesome. Votes are for other people. Take it only as feedback after the fact, not before. Risk being booed on-stage.

Peace, out

Are the people that read Hacker News not normal? :thinking:

I've grown to where I use the votes on my comments to gauge what people agree with. Sort of like an informal poll. It burns karma, though.

What I really want to know is:

1. Have I clearly gotten my ideas across? Am I reaching people?

2. Am I even right?

Fluctuations in votes helps answer #1, and responses help to answer #1 and #2

No. I'm not a serial poster. But I mainly come for the interesting posts about technology and the discussions that surround them.

I kind of do, and then I decide that that's ridiculous, and then I kind of don't... for a while.

It’s not worth optimizing for.

On HN I get addicted to my downvotes. And the flags... oh god, the flags.