I’ve been here since the beginning of LW, off and on, actually. (This is sort of an alt account.) I just recall discussion on such a policy a while ago, but didn’t see a wikipage giving such recommendations.
It was frustrating because it was on the order of 5 or 15 downvotes, without a single reply. My initial reactions were surprise and then disappointment at the community. I’d rather not be disappointed, so I thought re-focusing on more beneficial norms would be more productive.
If the reply is thoughtful, then it’s much less discouraging (And if you, for rhetorical purposes, claim the downvote was from someone else, then do so), e.g. “This was probably downvoted because X and Y, what do you mean by N. Also here’s some relevant resources/links A and B.” I guess it’s a lot more work than just downvoting, but it’s hardly discourging of done non-patronizingly.
I’ve been here since the beginning of LW, off and on, actually. (This is sort of an alt account.) I just recall discussion on such a policy a while ago, but didn’t see a wikipage giving such recommendations.
It was frustrating because it was on the order of 5 or 15 downvotes, without a single reply. My initial reactions were surprise and then disappointment at the community. I’d rather not be disappointed, so I thought re-focusing on more beneficial norms would be more productive.
If the reply is thoughtful, then it’s much less discouraging (And if you, for rhetorical purposes, claim the downvote was from someone else, then do so), e.g. “This was probably downvoted because X and Y, what do you mean by N. Also here’s some relevant resources/links A and B.” I guess it’s a lot more work than just downvoting, but it’s hardly discourging of done non-patronizingly.
The goal of downvotes is to be discouraging.