I don't see any problem with someone expressing verbally that they like something instead of just up voting. Though, I do see a problem when someone tells people how to express themselves.
I have no problem getting downvoted. To clarify though, I expressed my opinion disagreeing with mtogo's comment. I did not tell him/imply what/how he should comment. In any case, I did't know that opinion-based comments are discouraged in an opinion-based comment thread. I guess I am missing something here...
Your comment criticized mtogo for criticizing someone's comment. That is irony.
Presumably, mtogo voted JeremyS down because his comment lacked substance. Because JeremyS is a new member, he then informed him of why he voted him down and what is generally proper HN etiquette.
You then weighed in for no apparent reason. If you were speaking from expertise, experience, or authority, (e.g., if it had been pg instead of you) your opinion would carry more weight and therefore be worth stating. Instead, it just added more noise to a comment subthread lacking substance.
The point of both my comments and mtogo's are to emphasize one of the things that HN users value most: a high signal-to-noise ratio in comment threads. Pull up threads from a few years ago and you will notice a major difference in the tone and the information density. We are both trying to help new users understand how to make Hacker News a better place for everyone.
Just to clarify; I actually didn't vote JeremyS down, but rather up, because he was receiving downvotes and didn't know the etiquette. I thought i'd let him know the etiquette so he doesn't get downvoted in the future.
