Do you really care that much about your karma here? Just ignore it, it's just a number. It's not a video game.
Obviously, the most interesting, useful comments are often going to be controversial. In cases where people downvote stuff they don't like (which is a proxy for, does not fit my worldview), these comments will not get the most points. This means you shouldn't care too much about points except that they tell you where the conventional wisdom lies.
Personally I downvote something if I think it's dumb. Since there is more stupidity here now, it seems, there are more downvotes. That's good.
The problem is that downvoted comments are less prominent- they're all the way at the bottom of the page (and greyed out). Thus if people start downvoting things they just disagree with, things that contribute to discussions won't actually be seen, reducing the quality of discussions. Karma isn't the problem.
Gun to head, yeah, I do care about karma. But I only care insofar as I respect the community who's voting.
The problem is that the indiscriminate downvote homogenizes discussion. The consensus opinion rises to the top. This is good when the group is good; bad when the group degrades.
How are you supposed to know the reasons behind the votes? Often times something of mine will get downvoted, and I'd like to address it, but I have no sense of what the problem is. I have to actively keep myself from deleting things that have received a quick negative response sometimes.
I have an idea: limit the number of downvotes per user per day. If the want to downvote something else, something will have to fall off the stack. I think there's less of a danger if people only downvote what they disagree most with, as opposed to dismissal.
Wow. Dani's comment was good, and she got downvoted just for fun. Not good guys. Things like this turn a good and serious site into something like reddit or digg, where there are no more intelligent conversations.
I don't like when my posts are downvoted, so I refrain downvoting people too, unless it is necessary. If I don't agree, I'd rather just voice my opinion.
if you don't know the reason for a vote, then you shouldn't feel bad about the vote, since you don't know, was my point. the parent said he cared about karma.
it's not that simple. to participate effectively here, you need a certain amount of karma. you can't downvote without it. and if you go into negative numbers, you're almost certain to get your account terminated.
Obviously, the most interesting, useful comments are often going to be controversial. In cases where people downvote stuff they don't like (which is a proxy for, does not fit my worldview), these comments will not get the most points. This means you shouldn't care too much about points except that they tell you where the conventional wisdom lies.
Personally I downvote something if I think it's dumb. Since there is more stupidity here now, it seems, there are more downvotes. That's good.