Downvoting isn’t disagreeing. It’s just shouting “boo” from the audience and adds zero value to the conversation. If you disagree with something I’ve said, tell me exactly what you disagree with and why - then we can talk about it. Disabling downvotes doesn’t change that at all. Nobody ever changed their mind because they got heavily downvoted.
I would agree if that is how downvotes were actually used but that is not the case. More often than not when people downvote it’s because they don’t like what is being said not because it’s factually incorrect, offtopic or otherwise unhelpful. Factual information and perfectly reasonable (but unpopular) takes get downvoted here on a daily basis.
Well yes, social behaviour is bounded by rules that are maintained through reinforcement. So more threads like this one, please! We educate each other here. Media literacy is a skill.
I do exactly that, engage with comments I think are wrong, or misunderstood, or even harassing, but reserve downvotes for stuff that is really in the wrong place or very obviously rude or offensive, or just mouthbreathing stupid, like hatred or revenge wanking.
Downvoting isn’t disagreeing. It’s just shouting “boo” from the audience and adds zero value to the conversation. If you disagree with something I’ve said, tell me exactly what you disagree with and why - then we can talk about it. Disabling downvotes doesn’t change that at all. Nobody ever changed their mind because they got heavily downvoted.
I don’t agree. A downvote is a signal to others that “this topic/thread does not contribute to the overall discussion.”
And on a platform like Lemmy, with limited engagement (compared other social platforms) these signals are critical.
We need a way to signal to others:
I would agree if that is how downvotes were actually used but that is not the case. More often than not when people downvote it’s because they don’t like what is being said not because it’s factually incorrect, offtopic or otherwise unhelpful. Factual information and perfectly reasonable (but unpopular) takes get downvoted here on a daily basis.
"Be the change you want to see in the world… " ;)
Well yes, social behaviour is bounded by rules that are maintained through reinforcement. So more threads like this one, please! We educate each other here. Media literacy is a skill.
I do exactly that, engage with comments I think are wrong, or misunderstood, or even harassing, but reserve downvotes for stuff that is really in the wrong place or very obviously rude or offensive, or just mouthbreathing stupid, like hatred or revenge wanking.
Votes are for quality, not conformity.