I try to give constructive replies generally, but some people freak out over even positive advice so I just save the low-content back and forth "something is wrong on the internet I must comment on this!" that would make everyone else miserable and downvote them.
If you can phrase them interestingly and insightfully, they're not going to be downvoted into oblivion. Perhaps you should put in the effort to explain them to the uninitiated and you might change the dominant opinion?
Otherwise it seems like a hit and run for many people, from the outside.
It's not that they disagree or "hold an unpopular opinion", it's how they express said opinion.
Some people can champion unpopular opinions in insightful and interesting manners. Others are kneejerk contrarians and collect opinions that are likely to get themselves the negative attention they seek.
"It should be easier for a late-arriver on a post to add a useful comment, and have it be promoted"
That'd be nice, but not important enough to the discussion for me to recommend a feature. It'd just encourage threads to last even longer and with even more bickering.
Why? If it's so cut and dry, it should not be a problem to explain this.
I would of course assume that less people downvoting + more specific complaints would lead to more moderator action on the more obnoxious/distracting posters, if that wasn't the case I wouldn't recommend the change either.
Yeah, lower-content posts, narcissists, etc. I find more harmful in watering down the content than the obvious trolls or "cruel" posters, which don't tend to last as long.
The community is nice, but I'd rather focus on the interesting comments and stories I wouldn't see on any other site.
I try to give constructive replies generally, but some people freak out over even positive advice so I just save the low-content back and forth "something is wrong on the internet I must comment on this!" that would make everyone else miserable and downvote them.
I try to avoid downvoting reasonable people.