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Seems to be missing comment vote manipulation. Users can see the number of votes their own comments get but can't see the number of votes other comments get, or even if their vote changes the vote count on a comment, which allows shadowbanning of unwanted comments by vote count alteration by mods/admins.



That only covers downvoting comments, it doesn't mention why comment vote counts aren't publicly visible. Keeping comment vote counts invisible makes sense if upvotes on some comments are not being recorded as a form of shadowbanning those comments/users.


Other people's vote counts are invisible because they led to constant bickering about the merits of any given comment's "spot" vote count (this is also the reason there's a guideline that asks you not to write these kinds of comments, but changing the affordances so you can't see them at all was a much more effective solution to the problem).

(My confidence in this explanation comes in part from the fact that I'm pretty sure I had a hand in this coming to pass: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403716).

The conspiracist rationale here doesn't make much sense, because the site operators also control the displayed comment count and the registration of votes.


I thought a lot was about preventing bandwagoning or manipulation. In both directions, but especially downvoting.




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