I propose a notion of mod strikes to combat voting-related problems, to better address a problem in HN that so far has been addressed via a comment within the HN guidelines and FAQ:
"Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."
With the ability for either a user or mod to "flag downvotes", a mod could more easily see problematic downvoting and do something about it via a new action called a "strike".
This would give users a way to react quietly to what may have been a negligent downvote and give the mods a way to address it.
Note that comments about voting that go against the existing guideline would still be flaggable as they are today.
Some additional thoughts on how this sort of downvote flagging could be handled:
Downvoting could only be flagged if the comment has zero points or less, and must happen within 13 days of the comment's last update.
When a downvote is flagged, a copy would be made of the original downvoted comment along with a link to the comment, unless one existed already for the same comment text at the time of downvoting, in which case the tally of downvote flags would be incremented.
This list could be made available for review by the mods for up to 13 days beyond the last downvote flag action. Mods could mark a flagged comment as addressed, which would move them to the bottom of the list with indication they were addressed by that mod.
Mod strike = loss of 13^N karma points, defining N as the total lifetime mod strikes for that user.
"Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."
With the ability for either a user or mod to "flag downvotes", a mod could more easily see problematic downvoting and do something about it via a new action called a "strike".
This would give users a way to react quietly to what may have been a negligent downvote and give the mods a way to address it.
Note that comments about voting that go against the existing guideline would still be flaggable as they are today.
Some additional thoughts on how this sort of downvote flagging could be handled:
Downvoting could only be flagged if the comment has zero points or less, and must happen within 13 days of the comment's last update.
When a downvote is flagged, a copy would be made of the original downvoted comment along with a link to the comment, unless one existed already for the same comment text at the time of downvoting, in which case the tally of downvote flags would be incremented.
This list could be made available for review by the mods for up to 13 days beyond the last downvote flag action. Mods could mark a flagged comment as addressed, which would move them to the bottom of the list with indication they were addressed by that mod.
Mod strike = loss of 13^N karma points, defining N as the total lifetime mod strikes for that user.