There are a few opinions floating around on either or not downvotes should be disabled.

I’m interested to see what everyone thinks and if there’s a majority consensus one way or the other.

So please reply in this thread with your preference and why. You can also debate it in the comments.

Edit 23-03-2024 - Thanks everyone for your feedback. It looks like opinions are split on this, with good arguments made on either side. As downvotes aren’t currently a big issue, we’ll leave them as they are and we can revisit this again in future if things change.

  • HermanEnglish
    7·
    4 months ago

    Are we getting brigaded by the other instances we federated with? Some might argue it’s better to voice disappointment in replies.

    • splinterOPMAEnglish
      6·
      4 months ago

      So far not really, though I think it’s inevitable eventually. The way I see it, people on other instances downvoting our content affects how that content is displayed on HC. So while our flavor of content is not for them, their opinion impacts how this content is displayed for us too.

      If we did disable downvotes, people on other instances would still be able to downvote our stuff and that’s fine, but it wouldn’t impact how our stuff is displayed locally for us.

      The downside of course is we no longer can downvote anything either.

      • HermanEnglish
        6·
        4 months ago

        I haven’t downvoted a single post on here, I think I’ve seen it maybe twice.

        • AliceMAEnglish
          5·
          4 months ago

          i don’t down vote here either

      • AliceMAEnglish
        3·
        4 months ago

        I think it’s inevitable eventually.

        Correct. Answer agree. So I think it would be best to disable them.

        people on other instances downvoting our content affects how that content is displayed on HC. their opinion impacts how this content is displayed for us too.

        Then yes, absolutely take away the option to down vote. They are not acting in good faith, and they are not and should not be allowed to influence us in that way.

        The downside of course is we no longer can downvote anything either.

        https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/4086

        https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/4034

    • SJ0English
      6·
      4 months ago

      The one downside to people voicing their disappointment in replies, is once they open their mouths and make their argument, you quickly realize that it doesn’t matter that they didn’t like the post because they’re idiots. If you get a thousand idiots replying to a post, that doesn’t make the post any weaker, but if you get a thousand idiots downloading it without saying why, why that looks really impressive LOL

    • AliceMAEnglish
      5·
      4 months ago

      Cowards are afraid of confrontation