The issue is the bandwagon effect. When a post is downvoted other users will do the same without reading the content or forming their own opinion. Some apps hide heavily downvoted comments like reddit which lead to suppressing some unpopular opinions and discourage people from speaking their mind. Hate speech should be reported and misinformation should be debated with strong arguments
Comment on What's going on with the downvote button?
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Does it matter? Who cares about imaginary points?
While one could argue for its usefulness, the very nature of a mostly anonymous platform like Reddit and Lemmy will naturally lead to its misuse, completely negating its usefulness.
small44@lemmy.world 11 months ago
HardlightCereal@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Moderators and users don’t always agree on what hate speech is. For example, people often use my mental disability as a pejorative for people they don’t like. Half of them claim they weren’t really talking about my disability and it’s just a coincidence they used the same word. The other half will say they 100% intended to accuse the other person of being disabled. To me, both are unacceptable.
UnknownQuantity@lemmy.world 11 months ago
It matters that if there’s an option to upvote, there should be an option to downvote. Why have only one? What is the point of some instances having just one of them while others have both? I don’t care about points but I like to see how controversial something is when I read comments.
1984@lemmy.today 11 months ago
Upvotes are not abused and doesn’t make people feel like shit.
The lack of upvotes is a much nicer way to handle the situation.
UnknownQuantity@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Today I commented on something and got 12 upvotes. Clearly, people liked my take. I also got 12 downvotes on the same comment and that provided a reality check - my take is agreeable to some, disagreeable to others. Then of course I have to take into account all the users in all instances that don’t allow downvotes. How many people disagree with me that can’t let me know without replying? Do I need to rethink my stance on that particular position or should I just double down on it because 12 people liked it?
1984@lemmy.today 11 months ago
That’s an example of when it’s useful, but you probably understand the downsides of it also.