Throwaway for reasons that will become obvious in this comment.
Stack Overflow could easily be exchanged with HN for some of the OP’s points.
I posted my first HN comment ever this morning after years of reading. I saw an interesting Show HN and decided to chip in my two cents. Suffice it to say that the content of the comment was on-topic and conscientious (if the tone of this post may serve as any indication).
Checking back within minutes, I had a karma of -1. Seeing as how new members start with a karma of 1, and posting gives you 1, this means I had been downvoted three times within those few minutes. This affected me much deeper than I could have imagined.
Having lurked on HN threads for a matter of years now upvoting insightful or illuminating comments, I found it jarring for my thoughts to be disqualified so quickly and thoroughly. My karma was not just rendered inert, but actively negative, draining.
This activated in me all manner of imposter syndrome and shame. Worse, though, was this total sense of helplessness, this feeling that as even a noob I have to be in on the secret handshake lest I be branded as someone who doesn’t get it.
I later combed through HN looking for general patterns in downvoting, and for every off-topic, non-contributory post was one like “depression is just the natural response to oppression” or any of the variations of “me too” that were spared a downvote. This helped me shift my thinking on this. I realized it was less about being on the outside of the exclusive club, and more about having been caught in the gears of the machinery that allows beginners to have experiences like this. It doesn’t make me feel better having reached a conclusion like this, and only makes me less likely to try again, but for the hope that the smattering of comments in this thread forming a connection between OP’s SO experience with HN starts a real conversation about this.
Stack Overflow could easily be exchanged with HN for some of the OP’s points.
I posted my first HN comment ever this morning after years of reading. I saw an interesting Show HN and decided to chip in my two cents. Suffice it to say that the content of the comment was on-topic and conscientious (if the tone of this post may serve as any indication).
Checking back within minutes, I had a karma of -1. Seeing as how new members start with a karma of 1, and posting gives you 1, this means I had been downvoted three times within those few minutes. This affected me much deeper than I could have imagined.
Having lurked on HN threads for a matter of years now upvoting insightful or illuminating comments, I found it jarring for my thoughts to be disqualified so quickly and thoroughly. My karma was not just rendered inert, but actively negative, draining.
This activated in me all manner of imposter syndrome and shame. Worse, though, was this total sense of helplessness, this feeling that as even a noob I have to be in on the secret handshake lest I be branded as someone who doesn’t get it.
I later combed through HN looking for general patterns in downvoting, and for every off-topic, non-contributory post was one like “depression is just the natural response to oppression” or any of the variations of “me too” that were spared a downvote. This helped me shift my thinking on this. I realized it was less about being on the outside of the exclusive club, and more about having been caught in the gears of the machinery that allows beginners to have experiences like this. It doesn’t make me feel better having reached a conclusion like this, and only makes me less likely to try again, but for the hope that the smattering of comments in this thread forming a connection between OP’s SO experience with HN starts a real conversation about this.