[Shrugging Intensifies]

Comments on stories can be insightful, inciteful, inflammatory, or just passively show an opinion.

When there are no comments, nothing happens: no conversation, no revelation, and no way to know where I went right or went wrong.

When you upvote a story without posting a comment, you say that it was at least an enjoyable experience.

When you downvote a story without posting a comment, you are handing out punishment without correlation.