I'm curious, are you on a touch screen device? I've accidentally downvoted a number of times because I missed the little arrows with my fingers. It's frustrating that I can't change my vote afterwards. Does anyone else feel like this is a problem? Seems fixable.

I've accidentally down-voted only when using my iPad to browse HN. That and accidental Facebook "likes" can be a terrible ordeal.

How would you fix that though?

Five second "oh crap" window?

Change the layout:

[up arrow] 2 points [down arrow] by stevejohnson 1 hour ago...

Greatly reduces the chances of accidental downvotes due to misclicks.

Worst part about Facebook is that the person usually gets an email notification...

I would just disable down-voting on touch screen devices. At the expense of some functionality you avoid the issue of hiding valuable content.

I actually slipped when trying to highlight his comment for quoting :(

class, batch, round, whatever you want to call it really.

Most people seem to say batch. Since batch sounds a bit informal I often say cycle in stuff I write about YC, but no one ever uses that.

I use cycle when talking to people who are thinking about applying, and I've heard others use it too. Sounds more glamorous than batch and less academic than class.