Do you upvote direct replies?

At least for me, upvotes are for when I think a post/comment is useful. I don't have to agree with it, but if it provides some insight, or provokes good discussion, I upvote. I also don't use upvotes for other purposes, like telling repliers that I saw their reply, since I think that would make the meaning of an upvote more ambiguous.

Also I feel like Hackernews doesn't really push for prompt replies anyways. I don't comment expecting replies, so I likewise don't need confirmation on whether somebody read my comment or not

To be honest, I usually don't read direct replies to my comments. I don't get notifications from HN that they exist, if such notifications are a feature HN has. I have my comment karma count hidden so that I don't pay attention to it, because I don't want to accidentally start caring about it. I definitely upvote direct replies to other people's comments, when I see good ones.

I upvote as soon as they're in good faith (which, fortunately, almost always are on HN, compared to something like Reddit.)

If the comment seems to be from someone engaging in a productive conversation, yes, I upvote even if disagreeing.

Tangentially related: if there is one thing that I wish the mods re-evaluated in the guidelines is the idea that "downvotes are okay to signal disagreement". I am not going to say something silly like "HN is turning into reddit", but I will say that the discussions have been more politicized, people are forgetting to "keep their identity small" [0], and it feels like people are ever more trigger-happy to downvote anything they see as opposing their worldviews.

[0]: http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html

I do not, because I use the "upvoted comments" and "upvoted submissions" as a collection of useful links and TODO study. So if the reply is not something I may use in the future, I do not upvote to aviod bloating my link list.

Although it made me feel somewhat guilty to the people who answered my question, like here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31598801

But I sometimes upvote comments I do not need saved, just in hope to draw the authors attention, if I reply days after his comment and want him to reply back. I hope he will notice the karma change and will look around.

And rarely I upvote opinions I strongly agree with and want to endorse.

No. I looked at some recent replies to my comments, and I've only upvoted about 50%.

But I am much more likely to upvote a non-substantive (but positive) reply to my own comment, such as "Thanks". I wouldn't do this if it was a reply to anyone else's comment. That is a quick way of acknowledging the response, as you mentioned.

edit: I would be less likely to downvote direct replies, out of respect for the person engaging, but that option isn't available anyway

Generally yes if I feel they are “participating in the conversation”.

I suspect most don’t upvote replies and I respect that is their choice.

I only upvote comments I really like (even if I may not fully agree with it), and vice versa.

I upvote most replies, especially replies I don't agree with. I think that doing otherwise does not respect the little space in the conversion that I started.

I upvote replies which are high quality or with whom I'd like to have a conversation. But there are lots of people who I wouldn't want to talk to here: lots of well ackchuallys, poor Bayesian reasoners, etc.

Quite simply, if I were replying in a moron fashion, I'd prefer you left me without the upvote as well, so I'll do the same to you.

I upvote when the only thing I would reply to their reply is "thanks!" to save everyone else the scrolling.

My upvoting algorithm is the following - If I want to comment something, but realize it has already been said in another comment, I'll upvote that comment instead - If a comment is interesting & well researched/argumented I'll upvote it.

What makes HN so great is that you can always count on being upvoted for a direct refutation of someone, as long as it's in good faith and you make a meaningful point. I try to do that as much as possible with people who correct my thinking here.

Universally yes. I figured I was cumulatively wasting hours of my life deliberating on whether or not people deserved upvotes. In reality, if someone put any effort into replying to my dumb self, they deserve to be upvoted by me at the very least.

I upvote maybe around 25-30% of replies, mostly depending on the perceived quality and effort of the message. That's the amount I think deserves an upvote, and more would feel like tipping in the US: automatic and too much.

Downvoting direct replies is prohibited, for some good reasons. I respect those reasons and therefore refrain from upvoting also, which is a flipside of the same thing; it almost seems like a bug that it is allowed.

Personally, I almost never downvote (unless the user is literally writing one liner responses, insulting, or spamming).

The comments that are grey because they said something controversial are the ones I upvote the most.

I mean if we keep downvoting all the comments we disagree with because of an emotional response to it, how will we ever have an interesting discussion?

Also, I've noticed a pattern that after the depth of let's say 1-2 back and forth, the civility is often lost and the thread is no longer engaging.

One should know when it is a good time to stop replying..

I upvote useful and insightful comments as soon as I read them.

For direct replies to my comments, I upvote anything that is remotely helpful.

If HN wanted us to have what you are suggesting, like letting them know, HN would have had notifications for comment replies. They don't.

If someone spends some amount of time to write a reply or their comment is truly helpful, I let them know I read them by saying thanks in reply. I do also upvote them.

Over everything, one extra upvote count does not say that it was you who upvoted it. Does it?

Better to say thanks, directly if it helps you.

Given HN doesnt actually notify you of upvotes, I don't think "upvote as acknowledgment" works that much anyway.

Having said that, it's true that I have a lower threshold to upvoting an insightful comment when it's a direct reply vs the general thread.

And similarly, a rude comment is left intentionally ignored; I'll admit I get a bit of satisfaction in the thought that they'll never know if they were talking by themselves or I simply didn't dignify them with a response :p

Yes, unless they're being a dick for no other reason than to be a dick. A reasonable reply is always upvoted, since I value all discussion.

As a rule I upvote anything I bothered to finish reading that isn't namecalling or spam because I hope it creates more discourse.

If it seems in good faith yeah, I used to rarely vote. I noticed shortly after I changed that I got kicked of Reddit, so I guess my opinion matters... people don't silence you if they're not scared.

I always boosted people other than myself IRL too, so why not do it here? At least in the "cyber" realm there's a record of it.

I only upvote direct replies I disagree with.

I almost always upvote replies to my comments, the exception being rote repetition of common wisdom (not knowledge!)

> I don't usually see upvotes deep in comment threads

Do you mean see upvotes to your own comments? Or see upvotes to comments in general, including those of others?

If the latter, how do you "see" them? Is this something hidden until I have more HN points (like the downvote "superpower," apparently)?

I upvote replies I consider interesting or useful, with those I don't consider useful usually getting ignored (or replied to, if I have something constructive to respond to them with and they're not flamebait). Same with any other messages here on the site.

I never vote on anything because I think upvote/downvote mechanics are toxic. Occasionally I will upvote something that is very greyed out if I think it's an interesting perspective, though (regardless of whether I agree with it).

I upvote any reply that's not just the absolute worst.

If someone took the time to read and think about whatever it was, worth a point IMO. Probably 95% or more at a guess get upvotes (maybe a bit less because I don't notice them all or just forget).

I do this as well.

I also rarely actually upvote stories. But I upvote all comments that I find interesting.

I upvote comments mainly for two reasons:

1. I find it valuable to the conversation and want to bring it more visibility (and maybe further replies).

2. I want to incentivize similar future comments. "Good boy".

Who they're replying to isn't really part of the equation.

Would you, for example, upvote every comment in this post? Even if it reached 1000 comments. Surely not all the replies would be adding to the conversation, however if all of them are upvoted then it would dilute the value of an upvote

This feels odd to me - it sort of feels like manipulating the graph for your selfish purposes. It also feels kinda cheap - as in devaluing the value of upvotes.

I upvote comments I strongly agree with/like.

I upvote direct replies that I think are helpful, or make me smile. I'm generally quite stingy with my up/downvotes but I feel like I'm most likely to vote on direct replies.

For what it's worth if I left a reply and received an upvote for it, I wouldn't think "they saw my reply". I would think "someone appreciated my comment".

i think upvoting too much means they may not count or are filtered.

Also do this. If you can't stand the idea of upvoting what you're responding to, then you're feeding the trolls. That's a thing we used to not do.

As tempting as it was to just upvote and not reply ;)

Yes, I do the same usually.

One thing I noted before that would potentially be a good change: downvotes should either cost points, or else require a reply why you did the downvote.

If a reply or comment adds to the conversation (ie; is not just spam or trollery) then I tend to upvote it whether I agree with it or not.

I usually don't intentionally vote at all. And the few times I did, I actually regret upvoting. (Thankfully, votes are private)

Absolutely. I make a point to, including, like you, to replies I disagree with if they've progressed the discussion.

I usually upvote replies, unless a reply is so unhelpful or hostile that I'd rather not have received it.

Yes, whether I agree or not, if I read it and it's not a troll comment, I upvote it for the time spent.

I upvote most replies to me, but not the least thoughtful ones.

I upvote comments to keep track of what I've read so far.

Yes, I do. Appreciate your sharing this point.

I usually do. I seldom downvote.

Yes, I do this

Frequently.

Often replies are trying to mess with me by taking me down a peg. So no.

One of the biggest problems with HN is the detractors of crypto know nothing about it. They claim it’s a scam therefore that allows them (in their mind) to remain ignorant.