I’m very curious about the reasoning different people use when deciding to downvote a post or comment. Often, when something gets “heavily” downvoted, the OP will ask some variation of “why the downvotes?”. This is sometimes answered with sincere criticism, but sometimes is received even more poorly than the original offending post.
Do you downvote people who ask “why the downvotes?”? What informs the decision?
I automatically downvote anyone complaining about downvotes. I’m not going to change. Either stand your ground and accept your downvotes with dignity or introspect and see if you can improve your interactions.
Depends heavily on context. If the trolling is obvious then I consider the question just part of the trolling.
When someone asks why the downvotes, as I often do (and I do this for comments that aren’t even mine when I don’t understand why they get downvoted) I try to give as much context as possible as to why I don’t understand the comment was wrong.
Downvotes generally have two reasons: the comment is factually incorrect, or the comment comes across as rude/aggressive/inappropriate. (Sometimes a downvoted comment is both, but this is irrelevant to this explanation since you need to have at least one of the two).
So when asking I’ll try to figure out first which one it is. If I don’t know shit about the topic, then it’s likely factually incorrect, so I start my question with, "sorry I don’t know shit about this, can someone explain why the downvotes? " Etc.
The second one can be trickier since it requires social context knowledge and to interpret the tone of the message. You are more likely to get downvoted here, so when I do I brace myself for it. But I also try to explain as much as possible where my blindspot is. You can also pull it off, but you are dealing with commenters who are riled up and not thinking calmly. And there is a good chance the reason boils down to an irreconcilable difference in values, so you will still get downvoted.
Gee I didn’t realize I would end up typing this much ok bye
or the comment is just stupid and irrelevant.
or it puts forth a argument that’s coherent but ultimately stupid theorizing, like conspiracy nonsense does.
both which i guess fall in the ‘bullshit’ classification.
I too sometimes ask about downvotes on other people’s comments, but it feels a bit like bursting into a room and asking everyone to stop and take a survey so I try to be judicious about it. Usually it’s pretty self-explanatory but every so often I come across a real mystery.
On Lemmy, even more so than Reddit, the hive mind is quick to downvote people who have different opinions.
Try saying that you dislike Linux.
Or that you like cars.
Or try talking about things like SpaceX or Starlink without first having a sentence or two about how much of a POS Musk is.
Try saying ANYTHING about AI that isn’t 100% opposed to it, no matter the use case.
It’s like a good portion of Lemmy’s userbase has a fucking conniption any time they see an opinion they don’t entirely agree with infiltrating their perceived echo chamber.
The fediverse has an extremely bad case of the GroupThink.
No, you don’t see. They are all very smart geniuses who know better than you. You ignorant fool!
They are just trying to ENLIGHTEN you to the error of your ways!
ID politics infests this place. Under ID politics logic, there is the oppressor, and the oppressed. The oppressed can only do good, and you can only be good if you are on their side. Otherwise, you are evil. It’s an absolutist way of thinking, and most of the users here fall into the trap of thinking this way about everything.
They have simple extended it from politics to lifestyles, to hobbies.
I have been repeatedly harassed and insulted for being a console gamer. God forbid you own a playstation/nintendo and want to play games sitting on your comfy couch. What a ignorant immoral bigoted fool I am! How can I live without the GLORY of Linux gaming at 240fps!!!
I’ve seen in IRL so much now too. It’s not just lemmy. This type of thinking is rampant everywhere now, because it does so well on social media. It’s so pathetic and it’s totally toxic. And even if you are ‘on their side’ they turn it into a pissing contest of your purity or something. Everything is also moralized to the point of absurdity.
It’s not rude so much as that it comes off as pathetic.
Trying to understand why people might disagree with you is pathetic???
no, it’s pathetic to worry about points on the internet, and to broadcast your need for social approval
deleted by creator
It’s actually since I created this account that I really started thinking about the role of downvoting in social media. I honestly do not miss it at all, I think turning them off makes the internet better. I recognize this is not true for everyone, and I think people who find downvotes useful deserve to have useful tools. But I do like that I have the option of not thinking about them.
why not turn off voting altogether?
oh right, because that would take away the incentive for people to use it…
Imagine caring so much about internet points lmao
I sometimes wish I could turn it off lol. I love games, and the way that social media gets gamified with upvotes and downvotes (and the way that humans respond to those game elements, or make up their own rules around those game elements) is endlessly fascinating to me. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over how fuckin weird the internet is.
This is why old internet forums had higher quality discussions and tighter communities than anything on reddit.
Cuz it used to be that the only way to register disagreement, was to voice your opinion. Granted back then you could just call OP a fag and that was acceptable.
I think there are pros and cons. I like being able to sort by Hot or Top to see what everyone else is thinking about, but with comments I like to sort by Old and just see how the conversation unfolds in time.
Old forums were chronological by default.
Yes.
You don’t reach people who downvote you by editing after the fact and it just seems like you are butthurt.
When there is a dog pile you move on. Maybe people didn’t get your phrasing or you didn’t do enough to be understood. Or you spat an uncomfortable truth.
Also @ing people who downvote you is really rude. Don’t do that unless it is a pattern for them to downvote your content or they are systematically downvoting e.g. queer content.
Is there a way to even know who downvoted? I’ve always thought it was an assumption
Yeah. Gotta know for federation reasons.
It sounds like you’d have to go out of your way to get that info though. Which is a tad pathetic, no?
Depends. If your xom gets a constant number if downvotes suspicion is in orders.
