Seems worthwhile to discuss, so I upvoted your post. The barrier on mobile is too high right now to see if this has been floated already.
Sometimes I upvote a post because I think the potential discussion has merit here, regardless of the link. I have either never downvoted, or only once, to something completely inane and not helpful to the discussion. I really try not to fall into voting based on agreement, since my opinions can and have changed as I learn more. Still, there's a fair amount of subjectivity behind my upvoting, coupled with often choosing to move on to the next dopamine hit rather than thoroughly dig in.
Data on our voting behavior would be interesting. Is it already collected and analyzed by a subset of people behind HN?
What is your motivation for this, beyond that it would be interesting, helpful to mods against abuse, and more transparency as to why the vote? That all may be enough, of course, especially the latter two reasons. More transparency and accountability might make discussions even less prone to devolving into emotional reactions?
