Because the HN commenting guidelines contain paragraphs such as these, many users including myself feel comments like that deserve downvotes, because we think the site will be better with less of them:
> Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.
> Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.
> When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."
> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.
> Eschew flamebait. Avoid unrelated controversies, generic tangents, and internet tropes.
> Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.
But... it's just downvotes! I'm sending a polite signal, losing a bit of a digital karma score shouldn't be painful :) Please downvote me any time I comment something you think shouldn't be commented on HN!
> Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.
> Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.
> When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."
> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.
> Eschew flamebait. Avoid unrelated controversies, generic tangents, and internet tropes.
> Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.
But... it's just downvotes! I'm sending a polite signal, losing a bit of a digital karma score shouldn't be painful :) Please downvote me any time I comment something you think shouldn't be commented on HN!
(I just pasted the bit most relevent from the guidelines, but anyone who's not seen them should have a read of the whole lot - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html )