I think with hn, it's more than just the downvote, it's the subtle greying out of the comment each vote below zero until finally being killed at -4.
This is a bit different than say reddit where downvotes can just keep going on and on and a comment with -120 votes is just as visible as a comment with -1 and only a quick click away from being as visible as positively voted comments.
Hn's comment greying reminds me more of just silently being shut out or ignored and gives you immediate visual feedback as to the relevance, or lack thereof, of what you said.
I see the value in having a limit to down votes, but that shouldn't elminate the comment. Like every community HN has norms. If you have an opinion that's not popular - valid or not - it can get down voted. That doesn't mean the voice shouldn't be heard.
Mind you, if something is a violation then let the moderators handle it. But there is a difference between unpopular and violation, even on HN.
> If you have an opinion that's not popular - valid or not - it can get down voted. That doesn't mean the voice shouldn't be heard.
HN does have the "vouch" mechanism to compensate at least somewhat for this. Someone with enough karma to vouch can give a downvoted post that they think deserves to be heard a second chance.
That and there is always show dead mode for those that have an account and wish to see those comments. They're just generally hidden from casual browsers and must be turned on by those who want to see them.
I'm much more likely to upvote a post if it's grey, and much less likely to downvote it. I think you'd see a lot more downvoting if you removed the grey effect.
In my personal experience, the Reddit comment-hiding system only gets triggered for particularly horrible comments, not just controversial ones. It must take into account the upvote-to-downvote ratio.
This is a bit different than say reddit where downvotes can just keep going on and on and a comment with -120 votes is just as visible as a comment with -1 and only a quick click away from being as visible as positively voted comments.
Hn's comment greying reminds me more of just silently being shut out or ignored and gives you immediate visual feedback as to the relevance, or lack thereof, of what you said.