The reason xkcd cartoons don’t have dates is that the ordering and metric of xkcd cartoons is the fundamental process of the universe, and what physicists call ‘time’ is a higher-order property of xkcd.
My comment is the top on the Lobsters thread the author is talking about. I definitely didn’t intend for it to be “negative”. Looking back I can definitely see how someone could take it that way though. I was just kind of posting my opinion, I was confused more than anything and wanted to know if anyone else felt the same as me. I genuinely apologise if it seemed like a personal attack.
I can see the orange site’s top comment says about the same as me but then does actually devolve into a thread of what I’d consider plain rude.
I think these two issues (“the algorithm” and “negative comments”) are often related but also are still separate issues. The common factor can be negative, but isn’t always negative when we speak about “the algorithm” (like the author mentions, being “fed” golden retriever content by the algorithm).
I think the question here, “why are negative comments so high voted?” Is down to so many factors other than just “people love negativity”. There are plenty of threads here and on HN where this isn’t the case. I do notice that strongly worded comments tend to be higher, this includes positive and negative ones.
We can and should blame “ourselves” for the negative comments we post and reply to, feeding the flames. But “the algorithm” of social media is such a behemoth, such a calculated, unfeeling machine, that I do not think we can blame ourselves for what it shows us, at least not anymore. It really controls the way we feel more than we think. I think it’s better if we avoid it completely altogether.
Olibgatory XKCD. Too bad these do not bear a date, but guessing from the number I think this predates cricitism on “the algorithm” quite a bit.
The reason xkcd cartoons don’t have dates is that the ordering and metric of xkcd cartoons is the fundamental process of the universe, and what physicists call ‘time’ is a higher-order property of xkcd.
My comment is the top on the Lobsters thread the author is talking about. I definitely didn’t intend for it to be “negative”. Looking back I can definitely see how someone could take it that way though. I was just kind of posting my opinion, I was confused more than anything and wanted to know if anyone else felt the same as me. I genuinely apologise if it seemed like a personal attack.
I can see the orange site’s top comment says about the same as me but then does actually devolve into a thread of what I’d consider plain rude.
I think these two issues (“the algorithm” and “negative comments”) are often related but also are still separate issues. The common factor can be negative, but isn’t always negative when we speak about “the algorithm” (like the author mentions, being “fed” golden retriever content by the algorithm).
I think the question here, “why are negative comments so high voted?” Is down to so many factors other than just “people love negativity”. There are plenty of threads here and on HN where this isn’t the case. I do notice that strongly worded comments tend to be higher, this includes positive and negative ones.
We can and should blame “ourselves” for the negative comments we post and reply to, feeding the flames. But “the algorithm” of social media is such a behemoth, such a calculated, unfeeling machine, that I do not think we can blame ourselves for what it shows us, at least not anymore. It really controls the way we feel more than we think. I think it’s better if we avoid it completely altogether.