I used to downvote fairly often on Reddit as a sign to disagree or to push down really disgusting bigoted comments. And to be honest, it became a habit to just downvote without replying. However, now that I’m on lemmy and not Reddit I’ve been actively trying to not instantly downvote things and instead move on or take the time to reply. Has anyone else been trying to do this?

  • empireOfLove@lemmy.one
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    56
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Why do you think I joined the instance I did?

    Downvoting is useful for pushing irrelevant/spam comments down but it is definitely overused.

    • SigloPseudoMundo@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yup, I saw vote manipulation way too much on Reddit. 3-5 down votes on a dissenting opinion right after it’s posted usually tanks even the most well reasoned comment. Accounts like Unidan fly under the radar for so long.

    • mrmanager@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      It’s not used for pushing irrelevant or spammy content. It’s used to show you don’t agree and push that content away from sight. At least be honest about that if you support using downvotes.

      People act like they are making the thread better in some way by cleaning trash. But that’s not what happens. You are just making sure opinions you don’t agree with are at the bottom of the thread. Nothing noble about that. Feels good, sure.

      • Serinus@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        1 year ago

        You’re phrasing it in a way that is actively harmful. It’s like you’re trying to make downvotes worse than they are.

        They’re absolutely useful, but not for just opinions you don’t like.

        • mrmanager@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          I think we just have different experiences with downvotes. I see them being harmful, yes. Because they are used to disagree, not to flag incorrect content, in subreddits (communities) where opinions are discussed. In technical fact-based subreddits they may work fine, but in discussion-based ones, they are horrible and leads to one opinion at the top always.

      • empireOfLove@lemmy.one
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        At least be honest about that if you support using downvotes.

        lemmy.one has downvotes disabled.

        • mrmanager@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          I have them disabled also on my instance. Beehaw showed the way here and it makes sense to me to not use them. People just want to punish opinions they don’t agree with. The button should be called Punish. :)