So if I don't spend 20minutes making sure my reply is perfect, I will get downvoted.
Let's see if I get downvoted here too, as I wrote this on the go without checking all my facts.
But you know, making sure your post is factual correct, nicely worded and thought out seems to be a good consequence. Reading that I actually wish I was afraid of downvotes so I put more effort into some of mine.
it shouldn’t really influence your behaviour?
You are right that quality of the response is rewarded .
It is lot more about timing if you contribute late to a thread or post it is less likely you will get any points .
I usually find myself doing that frequently , the lack of upvote/ downvote only bothers me when there are no replies, you don’t know whether people read it, not so much whether people agreed with it.
But if you use HN as a funnel for brand building, talent acquisition, or as an authoritative voice for your company, then they can be costly.
(But let's say officially it was for this tiny grain of snark: "Let's see if I get downvoted here too, as I wrote this on the go without checking all my facts.")
I feel the same way as you - not about strangers on HN, but rather about people whom I will interact with who might see what I write, which is why I don't use this handle anywhere else. But downvotes? Who cares if you get downvoted? It's bad in that your thought is disappearing, but emotionally and intellectually it's useful information: What you said rubbed the HN audience wrong at a high ratio. You can either get upset and fall into the trap of blaming "them" because they have bad politics or are snowflakes or whatever, or you can allow that information to simply make the world clearer for you and use the chance to try to re-read what you wrote from an outside perspective.