I click the arrows.

I used to upvote anything I agree with or that is somewhat midly interesting, but then I realised that if I do that, then the truly good content gets drowned in a sea of upvotes.

(For example let's say I upvote a comment in a thread that I think it's really good and exceptional, but then I also upvote other comments that ya I kinda support even tho it's nothing exceptional. Then I'm drowning the exceptionally good comment.)

Because of that I now tend to limit my upvotes so when I actually vote they weight more.

As for downvotes I personally think they are rude, and usually try to only downvote when something is factually wrong or downright reactionary.

Instead I prefer to upvote comments disagreeing instead.

Sometimes I tend to upvote a comment when I think it was down voted unfairly.

And also down vote commercial posts of commercial products that I see as nothing but advertisement.

What I picked up from imgur is, I laugh,I upvote. No exceptions.

I upvote every post and comment I reply to, and every reply to one of my posts or comments, cause I think the fact that we're communicating here is pretty neat.
Unless the reply really isn't neat at all, then I don't vote.
I downvote obvious trolls, ragebait, bad faith arguing and rule breaking.

I actually don't understand how it's supposed to work but recently, if I see a post about something I want to stay top/hot, I upvote.

Also, when somebody has a funny/interesting comment, I will upvote.

I like it - upvote. Really disagree, or it has musk or the orange fuck in thumbnail, I downvote.

I'm on blahaj zone and we don't have downvotes, so I can't downvote anyone which honestly feels a lot healthier to me personally.

Upvote: agree/made me laught/is important/is good post or comment

Downvote: disagree/false info/unfunny

I down vote things that are factually wrong. If it's a matter of opinion and I don't agree, I take no action. If someone is being an asshole, or if their comment/post has absolutely nothing to do with the post/community, I will down vote. I can't always tell what is AI generated, so I might end up voting some of those, but my preference is to down vote AI generated content and bots.

If I feel that some post will have a negative effect on the community it's in, I down vote. I up vote things I feel are exceptionally good.

My threshold for what counts as negative or exceptionally good, varies with my mood at that particular moment.

I seldom use it:

• I barely ever downvote and only stuff that is very hateful or really too angry and that somehow managed to pass through my filters.
• I may upvote content I find really useful/enriching in a discussion.
• I do not use up/downvote as a way to show I agree or disagree with whatever I vote on. If I disagree with a content and think it's worth saying it, I will write a comment.
• Related: I also don't care about being downvoted unless there is a comment accompanying it to explain the motivation/reasoning behind it. People are more than welcome to disagree with whatever I say and even to dislike me as a person, I'm fine with that, but if they really want to help me realize (and maybe admit) that there was an issue in what I said, a mere downvote won't cut it. They will need to put in some more work ;)

I wish it was just a "this post/comment is good for the community" for up and opposite for down, but people will always (en masse) default to their emotional reaction when presented something that hits them one way or another.

Happened on that other site, happens here. People just love slapping that downvote when angry or upvote when pleased. I guess they feel some small sense of control that way.

I'm guilty of it myself, too, sometimes.

But usually I forget to vote. I only remember to do it when the post is really good or really bad.

I just upvote things I like that I wanna see again. Although there are very few lemmy front-ends on PC that'll let me see what posts I upvoted so it don't really work out too well. So far I've only found photon and stability on that is questionable if I don't go to the upvoted page right away

i mostly dont. unless someone is making asanine comment, or a smart ass. or if those comment because egregiously trolly, i will block as well.

I upvote intelligence, and downvote ignorance.

Downvote button disabled. Wish I could also disable the upvote button.

Only on very rare scenarios so downvote bigotry or plain rudeness and upvote effort posts and such.