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22 Comments

New IH Feature : Downvote posts

It seems there are more and more 'thin' posts on IH, where authors just post a link to their blog or tweet.

Is this what we want on here?

It irks me. It may not irk you.

If it irritates you then what do you think of introducing a downvote feature for posts.

We have downvotes for comments, which are hidden when they attract too many negative votes.

Why not introduce the same for posts? It could need a certain number of votes before hiding to ensure no individual is being petty against another etc.

The aim here is to improve the quality of the posts.

What do you think?

  1. 15

    It can be harmful in such competitive places, I don't live in the dream of a "happy IH family". People who uses alt accounts or personal network to pump up their posts will surely leverage this feature to keep staying on the top.

    1. 4

      As you say they can already pump the system as it is.

      Giving them ability to downvote doesn't need to affect rank - just whether it becomes "hidden" or not, like comments.

      You could well be right tho. IH may just have grown too popular to avoid thinposting and gaming.

      1. 2

        This comment was deleted a year ago.

  2. 10

    I ignore the posts that just plug a blog post or tweet. What makes IH special for me is the discussions, there's enough content elsewhere.

    Related, I also think the "I made $X in Y months" posts are getting out of hand. I'm all for celebrating each other's success, but yesterday the front page was just these types of posts.

    Not sure downvotes are a solution. Maybe we should consider enforcing the correct groups for posts?

    cc @csallen

    1. 2

      Agreed.

      I am ignoring them more and more as well but still have to click through to post to see it's just a link, which is irritating because so many are like that.

      And downvote may not be the best solution. Maybe automatically categorise links or have a "don't show me linkposts" setting.

  3. 4

    A downvote button is long overdue. No, I don't care about your Tweet that gives shallow advice like learn marketing to become unstoppable, or here's how I built x product in x days

    Reddit has a successful voting system. Upvote useful posts, downvote useless ones. Like it or not, IH isn't exactly a huge platform and I can't see posts being brigaded

    1. 3

      Agreed! It should work the same as downvoting comments (you need to be in IH a while, and have a certain reputation first)

  4. 3

    I don't think downvotes are warranted, but removing "link" type posts would surely help.

  5. 3

    Personally, in this form I am against it.

    I am relatively new to IH but what attracts me most to join IH is the good atmosphere in the platforms compared to others. Putting a downvote would add negativity.

    But it would be more judicious if it is not already the case, that the report button has an impact on the ranking of the post. This will have the same goal of reducing "low quality" posts but in a less negative way.

    1. 3

      I understand your concern and would not want IH to become a hostile or negative platform like some others.

      We already have downvotes for comments and they have not created a negative environment. From what I've seen downvotes on comments occur when the comment is overly negative or hostile.

      So the community polices itself in terms of rooting out negativity. I don't see why it would be different at the post level.

      I'm unclear on your report button suggestion. Are you saying if I think a post should be downvoted then I should just report it instead?

      1. 2

        Yes, if the post is low quality you should report the post and if the post is just bad for you, you should just skip it. The sorting will be done naturally

      2. 1

        Once I wrote "lol" as a comment on a popular post and managed to get more than 8 downvotes. I wonder how harmful or disheartening a lol can be. :)

        1. 1

          You crossed the line there.

          1. 1

            This comment was deleted a year ago.

  6. 3

    Pretty interesting idea, I think the only concern would be what happens if people decide to downvote a comment en masse and the post itself isn't terrible (is there a way to prevent this I wonder). It could lead to the poster feeling discouraged from posting again, because of one bad experience.

    1. 2

      Personally I think it unlikely a post would be downvoted en masse unless it "deserves" to be.

      Using comment downvotes as an example the community seems to manage itself ok there.

      I take your point about discouraging posters. Don't want to do that as better to encourage of course.

      Personally I don't mind so much if a post is a bit weak but is earnest. It's the posts that simply link to a blog etc to drive traffic that get tiresome.

      Too many AMA posts from VC funded founders too I think, but hey ho.

  7. 1

    You need moderation if you want to keep the quality high. Slashdot had a fairly good system where users were asked to moderate and then other users metamoderated - is rated the moderation.

  8. 1

    what about adding a 'twitter/facebook/etc. card' feature to the 'new post' function.

    we'd still have to add new functionality, tho. :-/

    i'd agree that many posts that are just links seem spammy and i rarely if ever follow them.

    and i guess i really don't have anything against downvoting functionality.

    1. 1

      I'm starting to think now that simply requiring a minimum number of characters for a post could help to fight link spam. Especially if links themselves don't add to that total.

      1. 1

        So....i might confused about something, but when you post, you have the choice of creating a post of type 'Link' or of type 'Text' -- so even if someone wanted to add something to their Link post - like, "Hey, does this value prop look good?" - they cannot do it:

        https://www.indiehackers.com/new-post

        All of which is to say, are you suggesting we get rid of the 'Link' type of post altogether?

        1. 1

          Yes I think getting rid of the Link post would be good.

  9. 1

    The problem is: topics with downvote function can be heavily manipulated. By just having upvote only people will skip it or write negative comment, but it will not dissapear.

    Same reason Facebook does not have thumbs down, twitter and all others. These platforms just got algo tracking user engagement.

    On IH if the post will not get any upvotes it will quickly go down organically. Then whats the point?

  10. 1

    Don't turn IH into Reddit. Is it not possible for you to exercise editorial control?

    Saying that, r/Rust is an excellent sub. I posted a few low-value things there, got downvoted and rightfully so. On the other hand r/Startups is ruled by a mob.

    1. 1

      Yes editorial control is the only way.

  11. 3

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

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