Comment on Upvotes and downvotes are public information on Lemmy

• Perspectivist@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  If a person climbs onto a stage to make a statement, and instead of getting on stage to make a counterpoint someone just shouts “booo” from the audience, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to demand that person to show their face. There’s a certain level of cowardice in simply downvoting without explaining why you disagree. There’s no option to post anonymously here, so it’s not obvious to me that voting should be anonymous either. If people upvote or downvote, they should be willing to stand behind that - and if someone asks for an explanation, you have three choices: ignore them, block them, or explain. I guess there’s also the option to simply not vote at all.

  If it were up to me, I’d hide vote counts from users entirely. It’s not all bad, but I’d argue the net effect is negative. Visible votes encourages toxic behavior. When someone makes a controversial claim, you can first downvote them, then dunk on them in a reply - and now they’re being downvoted into oblivion while you get applause for your smug comment. In reality, nobody’s mind changes. Heavily downvoted comments also prime readers to dislike them before they even read them, instead of approaching with a neutral mindset and then forming their own opinion - or reading further to see other perspectives. As it stands, the system mostly trains people to recognize what’s popular on a platform so they can self-censor to avoid downvotes, and feel validated for shouting down people who voice unpopular opinions.

  So, if someone asks me to explain why I downvoted something, I might explain or I might not - but I don’t think it’s an unreasonable thing to ask. On the other hand, if someone makes it their personal mission to follow me around and harass me because I downvoted their comment, I think it’s unreasonable to demand the system be changed just so I don’t have to deal with it. There’s already a solution for that: blocking them.

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  • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    There’s a certain level of cowardice in simply downvoting without explaining why you disagree.

    .

    When someone makes a controversial claim, you can first downvote them, then dunk on them in a reply - and now they’re being downvoted into oblivion while you get applause for your smug comment.

    .

    If someone asks me to explain why I downvoted something, I might explain or I might not

    Dude, pick a lane.

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    • Perspectivist@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I don’t see a conflict here but I’m happy to explain if you elaborate on what’s confusing about what I said.

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      • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        And forth we have you downvoting without an explanation (the thing you said was cowardly) after you said:

        I’m happy to explain if you elaborate

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      • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        First we have “the problem is downvoting without a reply” (which for the record is the argument of a Sea Lion. Downvote and move on is perfectly acceptable)

        Then we have “the problem is seeing downvotes and replying” which… Didn’t you just ask for replys when downvotes?

        Finally we have “if asked I may or may not explain why I downvoted” which again is contrary to your initial issue of “people downvoting without giving a reason why” as you apparently are doing that exact thing and you might give a reason why if asked.

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  • datavoid@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    WHO BOOED? GET UP HERE THIS INSTANT - I DEMAND TO KNOW WHO BOOED!

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