And the "vote down" button should be removed until the voter has commented on the post. Getting fed up seeing worthy comments down-modded without explanation.

It's never particularly bothered me to see posts get downmodded with no explanation, but I like the basic idea. This lets both the poster know and other readers.

This may cause a problem where we get a bunch of comments that say the same thing. It would probably be better if a reply could be upmodded instead of adding another comment.

I disagree. Short comments like this one would get annoying.

So you have to make an argument instead of saying "meh, I disagree." That's a good thing. Seriously, get rid of the downmod button altogether.

I disagree. I did make an argument.

"Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teMlv3ripSM

My argument, in part by example, was that a large number of short, similar comments explaining why another comment should be downmodded would be annoying. Since the purpose of downmodding is to call less attention to lower-quality comments, putting a large thread of explanatory arguments underneath them seems counterproductive to me.

I never said you didn't :)