There are two general reasons why a hn comment might get downvoted.
First, if you are not contributing something positive to the conversation, most people will downvote you. This is why the comment where you are asking why you got downvoted is now downvoted.
Next, it is generally considered acceptable to upvote comments you agree with and downvote comments than you disagree with. I think this is why the comment you are asking about was downvoted initially.
Note, there is some controversy about downvoting because you disagree. Personally, I feel like this makes hacker news a more uniform and less interesting place than it would be otherwise, but I believe I am outvoted in this matter. On the other hand, upvoting or downvoting is clearly better than content-free 'me too' posts.
I kind of have the impression that "there is no such thing as bad publicity" is the general view here. I made a comment which I deleted* which was also downvoted and also agreed with the idea that not all publicity is good publicity. I like the quote (attributed to Mae West and various others) that "There's no such thing as bad publicity" but I don't think it's really accurate if taken too literally.
* Not because of the downvotes but just thought better of it -- like I think I am blathering on too much here about me in a way that could lead to trouble.
I see, thanks for your response. I think that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" makes sense. It's certainly true that the downside of this site is not that it's drawing people in who don't like it. I think the problem is that the publicity isn't likely to overcome the deficit in work that's likely to result from serious potential clients being turned off. The publicity isn't necessarily bad, but the portfolio website is, if that makes sense.
Still, I thought generally "adding value" isn't contingent on agreement. Do people generally downvote things they disagree with? (Sorry if this is a dumb question, haven't been here for long.)
Sometimes people have a slip of the finger, especially on certain devices (iphones or the like). Sometimes someone just doesn't like you personally. There is no way to completely rid a community of that. Sometimes the phrasing was just really poor. "Low content" posts are sometimes downvoted and, yes, downvoting to express disagreement does happen. Stick around a bit. Get a feel for the place. Learn as you go. Brush it off. The next discussion is a chance to start anew. The size of the place seems to genuinely foster that more than other forums I have been on.
Can't reply to the reply for some reason, but duly noted. Thanks very much for the explanation! Obviously there won't be any need for me to post something like this again.
