Downvoting for bad grammar? What if this person is a non-native english speaker? I know plenty of smart people who grew up with a different primary language, and can make bad mistakes in english while writing.
Poor grammar and spelling lowers the signal-to-noise ratio. Upvotes and downvotes are quite specifically designed to raise the signal-to-noise ratio on the site. It doesn't have to reflect on the person as an individual.
Having said that, I don't downvote on grammar/spelling alone (as I mentioned elsewhere), and I do cut a little more slack when a person is not a native speaker (but not 100% slack - better grammar and spelling are always preferred, other things being equal).
Then that's just too bad, I guess. HN is an English speaking site. The ability to articulate your thoughts in the medium chosen for the discourse is cost of entry. Poor grammar is a quick indicator of content quality to me. In fact, it's just about the only thing I will downvote. Maybe it's because I was raised by an English professor.
Comments
david and goliath by gladwell is indeed a good motivational/justificational book for underdog or lean startup aiming at big corporate.
Why is he being voted down? The book is referenced in the article.
There's been a pretty negative Gladwell vibe on HN lately.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I auto-downvote comments that lack proper punctuation/grammar. It's a fast indicator of quality discourse.
Downvoting for bad grammar? What if this person is a non-native english speaker? I know plenty of smart people who grew up with a different primary language, and can make bad mistakes in english while writing.
Poor grammar and spelling lowers the signal-to-noise ratio. Upvotes and downvotes are quite specifically designed to raise the signal-to-noise ratio on the site. It doesn't have to reflect on the person as an individual.
Having said that, I don't downvote on grammar/spelling alone (as I mentioned elsewhere), and I do cut a little more slack when a person is not a native speaker (but not 100% slack - better grammar and spelling are always preferred, other things being equal).
Then that's just too bad, I guess. HN is an English speaking site. The ability to articulate your thoughts in the medium chosen for the discourse is cost of entry. Poor grammar is a quick indicator of content quality to me. In fact, it's just about the only thing I will downvote. Maybe it's because I was raised by an English professor.
Edited: Typo (of course)
"en English professor"
Sorry buddy, gotta downvote you now. Based on that typo I can tell that this comment lacks quality and doesn't add to the discourse.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Do as you will :)
(I was wondering how long it would take before I let one slip. It never fails when discussing grammar online.)
a.k.a. "Muphry's Law".
I auto-downvote comments that pay attention to poor proxies for quality discourse rather than just evaluating the quality of the discourse itself.
Grammar is a component of quality discourse, though I agree the parent overweights it.
I do not downvote for poor punctuation and grammar, but it does bias me in that direction a bit.