How do you feel about being downvoted?

I’m relatively new, and I’m not sure how I feel about downvotes yet. I might prefer a system of upvotes-only, with the option to flag a post for review if it violates the forum rules. I like not yet having the option to downvote. With book reviews I tend to only leave a high mark for a book I am grateful for, or nothing for a book that didn’t resonate, for it might be helpful to someone else. Who am I to judge? Critical reviews carry more water as the readers know the reviewer more.

Since I don’t much know the value of HN points I don’t much care yet. I might be okay with hiding them altogether, except they are a useful indicator about an active discussion.

I don't care. Downvote away. I care much more when someone explains to me that I'm wrong and why. I interpret a downvote as someone's own insecurity about their own opinions. I upvote well articulated comments, regardless of agreement.

For some reason, HN downvotes hurt my feelings more. I think it's because they're pretty neutral. With SO, you can downvote because it's not a useful solution or it's outdated or it doesn't work. With HN, people only downvote because they don't like what you said.

It works though. I've put more thought on whether my words hurt someone else's feelings enough for them to downvote me. I've cut back on the snark (which more often than not, is annoying rather than funny). It's a good feedback mechanism, but it feels a little strong because it's so rarely used.

And I think in some cases, there are things that need to be said and people who don't like hearing it. It makes me mindful that these are words that make people uncomfortable. Sometimes it means I'm on to something, but also that I should phrase it differently.

I feel the same way. I don't like unexplained downvotes. Most of the time I feel that it's a product of someone misinterpreting a statement. If they had left a reply, then it's possible we could see each other's points of view in a respectful manner. I guess it's just easier to downvote and more on though.

The only thing I think I feel differently about is that I dont feel panic. I feel crushed sometimes. I work a job where my opinion means nothing. My wife doesn't care for my opinions or even to discuss many topics. So if it's been a rough day at work or home, it kills me to see people just downvote without a conversation. I guess the important thing to remember is that none of our opinions really matter, just look at the state of political representation.

There are most certainly folks that come here with the sole intent to down vote what they find here. My suggestion is to keep that in mind.

And it doesn't feel like a leap to surmise that a small percent of users here may account for a large percent of downvotes here and anonymity probably encourages those who do that.

On the other hand, that anonymity also prevents retaliation wars which would probably get out of hand fast here otherwise.

One way to address that issue could be to limit the number of downvotes one gets to use here. For example you might be allotted 10 downvotes a month and that's all. My hunch is if that were implemented we see a huge drop in downvotes here. In my case I don't think I've hit that limit many times, if any.

Downvotes are more disturbing than upvotes are rewarding. I suppose this is related to the psychology of happiness, e.g. Gilbert’s “Stumbling on Happiness”?

It might be good to make a downvote = -.5 and an upvote = +1 to even out the effect?

Just a thought...

I don't like that and I don't like it when I'm voted down, especially when, for example (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27304811), I can't understand why the down vote was set on this point. This arbitrariness leaves me with a strong negative feeling, which is then also transferred to other down votes, even if they were justified.

Sometimes I deserve my downvotes and I'm okay with that. When I'm sure that I don't, it is either some political spat that is not worth thinking about because opinions differ, or it is just HN having idiots like any other online place. Accept that there are always people who will downvote and you can do nothing about them.

Don't dwell on it - if they wanted to tell you, they would have. Move on to the next activity.

On HN, only commenticide matters - then you need to pay attention :-)

It's my impression (cannot be proven) that when one of my comments irk people and is downvoted that people look at my other comments and gratuitously downvote them too.