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

  • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Semi-tangential. Every time I get downvoted, I move an inch closer to the exit door of this community.

    I’m talking about comments rather than posts, of course. And it should go without saying that the comments in question do not contain factual errors or even rudeness. Just pure opinion, expressed civilly.

    Downvoting is, almost always, poisonous behavior in an online community. It is just as poisonous as saying “Shut up” to someone in a real-life social situation.

    IMO the corporate social networks get this fact better than the literalist geeky types and other well-meaning idealists to be found in this forum.

    • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
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      3 months ago

      Every time I get downvoted, I move an inch closer to the exit door of this community.

      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.

      • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        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.

    • mark@programming.dev
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      3 months ago

      Every time I get downvoted, I move an inch closer to the exit door of this community.

      By community, do you mean just this particular Lemmy community or the community on Lemmy collectively? If the latter, there are other alternative Lemmy communities on other instances that may be better suited for you.

      Just would hate to see someone leave Lemmy over toxic energy in one place. There’s a big world here in fediverse!

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      I heard downvotes expressed a consensus that a comment or post does not hold value in the context of that community. It’s not “shut up” but more “well that’s not relevant”.

      • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Unsure if you’re even being serious here. The relevancy of the subject matter is not in question. The issue at hand is that people are downvoting opinions. Forgive my directness but if an opinion does not hold value in the context of the community, that seems to me just a waffly way of saying that the opinion is not welcome in the community without actually saying it.

      • lemmyingly@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        Unfortunately people don’t see voting systems as a method to highlight the relavency of a contribution. They see it as a like/dislike system, and so I see as shut up signal used by most because downvoting a contribution buries it to the bottom where few people will see it.

        If it was used for relevancy and quaility then communities would be self regulating by the users. I believe Reddit’s guidelines state(s/d) it’s voting system was meant to be for relevancy, even though most people use it as a like/dislike system.

    • Fleur__@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Yeah I’m always confused by the people who are like the downvote button is for off topic discussions. Like no that’s reporting and functionally the downvote button is the “I had a negative reaction to this button” and the up vote is the “I had a positive reaction to this button”

      Personally I don’t downvote anyone because it just feels petty and pointless. Some of my favorite comments have loads of downvotes and to me it just makes whatever dumb shit I said funnier

      • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        functionally the downvote button is the “I had a negative reaction to this button” and the up vote is the “I had a positive reaction to this button”

        Exactly this.

        Some of my favorite comments have loads of downvotes and to me it just makes whatever dumb shit I said funnier

        If you’re talking about your comments, and you laugh at others who downvote them, then well done. But I submit that most humans are not so thick-skinned.

        There’s also the question of visibility: downvoting a comment is not just saying “You’re wrong”, it’s making the comment less visible to others. A form of censorship, basically. I personally find it extremely annoying and unfair when it happens.

        Perhaps it also has to do with how much time and thought you put into the offending comment.

        • Fleur__@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Man you can’t be spending more than 30 seconds on a comment. If its taking longer to write out just delete it and move on. If you’ve really got something to say in longer than 30 seconds make a post about it

    • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Obviously my argument is being confirmed by the response to this comment. Seriously guys - I would bet that you’re all guys - you’ll regret it when you’re left with nobody to talk to but other cynics and nihilists and mindless jokers.

      • Makeshift@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        I gave you some from a girl to help balance things out!

        But I can promise you, from many years net positive on reddit and a not disimilar result here, that you’re not reading your own tone.

        Be mindful of the tone, only come off as combative against a near universally disliked topic, and know when you don’t care to curate yourself and are ready for the downvotes.

        Your wording here makes you out to be combative, and people are combative in response. Read your own comments as if they’re directed AT you. And look specifically at what’s likely to make you want to argue back. You may even be surprised at what can get net positive response with the right wording.

        • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          This is an excellent point, very perceptive and well expressed, and the first time somebody has actually said it. I know it already and I do try to do as you suggest. The problem is that I have a bit of a combative personality so it’s a real struggle, especially when I feel I’m choosing my words very intentionally so that nothing is literally insulting or wrong or falsifiable. A combative lawyer basically, what could possibly go wrong? I often wish I could be more emollient and compromising in my attitude to others, I really do admire it when I see it in others. But alas personality is something very hard to change. So yeah, thanks for the insightful and constructive feedback. And take an upvote to add to your overflowing and deserved collection.

      • Harvey656@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        The irony of yout cynical attitude and your totally blind to it is interesting, to say the least.

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        And people like me who don’t go away just because they get downvoted.

        You can go find your community of all positive interactions, and well keep our positive/negative mix.