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.

  • AliceMA
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    3 months ago

    Huh… ok

    Like look, if lemmy was actually filled with sensible people, then I’d say please leave the ability to downvote. I personally like being able to have down votes,

    But yea were not dealing with those types here. They can’t take a joke, are offended easily, want to have constant political fights and make EVERYTHING political, they’re incredibly toxic and down vote everything and anything that isn’t supportive of leftist political agendas.

    Especially if content is coming from a politically UNBIASED (us) instance or any instance identifying as conservative in any form.

    In those people’s warped minds, anything that is opposite of leftist is nazisiam. It’s over the top, delusional and very telling of their deteriorating mental state.

    Because of this, it is my opinion, that disabling down votes, is the way we need to go.

    It sucks. But they are not logical or level headed.

    They’ll down vote absolutely everything we post because yes they are that immature and petty.

    And I just do not feel that they should be allowed the option, to behave that retardedly towards us.

    It’s important to recognize what we actually can control, and I think taking that away from them is the right thing to do.

    They’ve got not issue forcing ppl to play by their rules, so I have no issues forcing them to play by ours

  • Herman
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    3 months ago

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

    • SJ0
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      3 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

    • splinterOPMA
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      3 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.

      • Herman
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        3 months ago

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

        • AliceMA
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          3 months ago

          i don’t down vote here either

      • AliceMA
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        3 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

    • AliceMA
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      3 months ago

      Cowards are afraid of confrontation

  • Owner_of_donky
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    3 months ago

    I don’t think it’s needed. I don’t see the reasons we would disable downvotes. The instances we have federated with are not intrusively downvotig all posts. And they are some sort of feedback.

  • Drewski
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    3 months ago

    I think it’s a good idea, on Saidit there are no downvotes and it’s worked out pretty well.

  • SJ0
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    3 months ago

    I don’t have a strong opinion on it, but fbxl lotide because of the platform it’s on doesn’t have downvotes at all, federated or otherwise, and nothing of value has been lost.

    Actually, the one thing that I do notice when I’m on fbxl lotide rather than lemmy is I don’t have to know or care about when a bunch of redditors decide downvoting my comment into Oblivion, and that’s nice.

    On the rest of the fediverse, downvoting isn’t even a thing.

  • Lovstuhagen
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    3 months ago

    There has not been an issue present with downvotes so far but pro-active policing is at the heart of everything, right…

    You could make it so that only comments can be downvoted, because I think it says enough if a topic does not have much action going on concerning it, and I feel that the rael big issue is when you see topics getting habitually downvoted by a single person who is going throough and d/ving every single topic

    • AliceMA
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      3 months ago

      That’s a good idea on the comment thing

  • kernelpanic
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    3 months ago

    dont disable them, just make popup messsage that says: you are pink haired faggot if you downvote quality content

  • HilariousCosmos
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    3 months ago

    IMO maybe it doesn’t need downvote system. Upvote is fine as long as it gives positive. If anyone disagree, leave it as it is. No need to downvote to tell that you suck or you are not smart. Highest upvotes= confidence. Few upvotes= good effort or agree enough.

    Just my thoughts.

  • PenguinyBob
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    3 months ago

    I think Reddit has proved everyone that using down votes just triggers hate among other Redditors.

    Disabling the down vote will ensure that users will act accordingly to the post and not to act disgusting.

  • airrow
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    3 months ago

    I am against downvotes and for “ratioing” people if you don’t like the post by piling on disagreeing comments

    Tiktok was like this for a while and then allowed downvotes but they didn’t affect score

    Is Twitter without downvotes? I think there are some sites where it is a successful approach

  • Jimmy
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    3 months ago

    I think having downvotes is solid (only my 2 cents), just to see the balance of votes for all posts and comments 🤷🏼‍♂️. Otherwise users are in the dark no?