Asklemmy

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Downvotes = “I disagree” or “this is bad and you should feel bad”? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I think I’ve settled on the latter. Disagreement is maybe best communicated by the absence of an upvote? And downvotes work best when they signal something that is just off base, and while not reportable, is not appreciated at a broad cultural level.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yes, up/down votes are inherently subjective and reports are to be used for objectively bad content. It is up to the users to decide whether they feel that opinions they don't agree with are worthy of downvoting or not. In the end the voting system tries to give the community a voice to mirror what content they like to see - within the rules that are enforced by moderators. I think it would be better if people downvote content they don't like instead of using it to "punish" people they argue with. That's why I think it is a slight improvement that lemmy shows up and down votes separately - it gives the downvote a bit more gravitas and in consequence "not voting" receives some, too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It is up to the users to decide

Then it will always be a race to the bottom and people will decide to misuse it to punish users and manipulate the community. Clear evidence of this happening on Lemmy is rife and the technical level for abusing downvotes on the fediverse is quite low.

In the end the voting system tries to give the community a voice to mirror what content they like to see

A single up or downvote function would take care of that function. In the end the separate up- and downvote system gives the community a tool to punish users who they don't agree with.

I think it would be better if people downvote content they don’t like instead of using it to “punish” people they argue with.

I agree, too bad ~~REAL communism~~ NOT using the downvote to punish people haven't been tried.

That’s why I think it is a slight improvement that lemmy shows up and down votes separately

Downvotes on Lemmy? Like on Reddit?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Interesting. I have buttons for voting up and down in the web UI and on mobile in voyager. Is that a setting of the home instance?

I'm not sure what you mean with single function and the separate voting system. Voting on threads vs voting on posts?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Is that a setting of the home instance?

Yes. Lemmy instances can disable downvote federation. I will never see a single downvote at the price of not being able to downvote others myself. Which is fine because I either upvote what I consider good content or report content that shouldn't be in the community.

single function and the separate voting system

I don't need downvotes to see the content the community consider good rise above the not so good stuff. It's the same to me if people downvote or don't upvote, both means they're not endorsing it for what ever reason.

So there's a way to separate good content from bad content through upvoting. And there's a way of removing content wrong for the community by reporting it.

So what's left for the downvotes to do? I mean, besides letting angry people do something more than just shout at their screen?