Which - to me - is a good thing.
Do not know what downvotes are.
// image title: a lemmy post which shows a multiple of comments in regards to its upvotes/downvotes
Which - to me - is a good thing.
Do not know what downvotes are.
// image title: a lemmy post which shows a multiple of comments in regards to its upvotes/downvotes
Lol OK bye.
Nobody gives a shit and complaining about down votes is the quickest way to get them.
Guess what! Outside of a few custom instances that for some reason want to be reddit, the fediverse doesn’t track your total karma.
Unless you’re going back to keep track of your comments for some weird reason, the only time you see a down voted comment is when you get replies.
I could have hundreds of net down votes by now, but I don’t know because luckily my instance doesn’t track votes.
The point is, it’s a little number next to an arrow. Who gives a shit.
Yeah I know that I’m courting downvotes here but that doesn’t disprove my argument.
My argument is that downvoting opinions expressed in a thoughtful way is just uncivil. It degrades the atmosphere. It causes the less thick-skinned to shut up, to self-censor, to leave. The inevitable result will be less civil conversation, less participants, and - to caricature it a bit - just a bunch of guys shouting and snarking and sniping and generally “not giving a shit”.
And let’s be honest, you probably are a guy. I am too BTW.
Personally, I use downvotes to say “I disagree with this and/or it is a stupid/bad/bigoted/etc take, but I do not wish to spend the time and effort to respond and get dragged into a text-based mudfight with someone who is unlikely to speak to me politely, no matter how polite I try to be in my rebuttal.”
I like having a way to say “no, bad, stop that” without having to spend time trying to explain things or engage with someone who I think is beyond convincing anyways.
So far, a great articulation of what (I guess) most downvoters are thinking.
But I’m not sure you’re being honest with yourself here. Certainly not if you’re talking about my comments, which are always polite if sometimes a bit forthright because I’m a direct kind of person.
Nicely put, again. But then: why should your antagonist “stop that”? They should shut up just because you disagree with them?
We come back to the crucial element: civility. If one believes in free speech, and the right of others to have their own opinions and to have a voice, I still see absolutely justification for downvoting a thoughtfully expressed opinion.
I don’t agree with you here but I respect your right to have an opinion and I would never think of downvoting you for it. If that comes across as sanctimonious, so be it. I prefer to see it as just coherent with values. Which I’m sure you share, by the way.