So if I comment that the behavior on Ars is surprisingly similar to HN, I should receive up votes from people who had the same thought, and down votes from those who think that's obvious and doesn't add to any new insight?
With a rating scale of only 1, 0, and -1, I think most people reserve -1 for comments that, usually in addition to not adding new insight, are disruptive/off-topic/rude/etc.
Nooooo. The community matters a lot. The way a conversation will shake out on HN or stackexchange or reddit (all of which have up and down voting) will be hugely different. Indeed, on reddit the particular sub-reddit that a thread is in will make a huge difference in voting patterns and comment behavior.
