Earnest question- what is it supposed to be used for? I don’t downvote people very often, but I think I’ve only ever seen it used express approval or disapproval so that the score reflects community sentiment
This post does not present the requisite context, which is that this community is a bit special in comparison to others. Read the sidebar text where it explains more how the mod wants people to use it differently. On Reddit there were some others like that, e.g. CMV, and had different-styled icons to help people realize that - before the days where people just expected every single sub to function identically so that they could bother not reading the sub rules before posting or commenting in it.
e.g.:
Do not downvote posts if you think they deserved it. Use the comment votes (see below) for that.
It’s a tool for curating the content, upvote posts you want people to see, and downvote those you think should be hidden. So stuff that’s irrelevant, factually incorrect, pointless, inflammatory etc.
Thinking that something should be hidden just because you disagree with it is problematic.
In addition to what others said, in comments the down vote is meant to be used on comments that don’t further discussion in good faith.
I used to subscribe to that idea, but I’ve since changed my mind. If the far majority use upvotes to mean agreement, then me upvoting a controversial, but well structured, opinion will likely be viewed as agreement as well.
It’s a nice idea to think the voting system is meant to promote discussion, instead of homogenise opinions in a community.
Earnest question- what is it supposed to be used for? I don’t downvote people very often, but I think I’ve only ever seen it used express approval or disapproval so that the score reflects community sentiment
How is it supposed to be used?
However you want to use it.
This post does not present the requisite context, which is that this community is a bit special in comparison to others. Read the sidebar text where it explains more how the mod wants people to use it differently. On Reddit there were some others like that, e.g. CMV, and had different-styled icons to help people realize that - before the days where people just expected every single sub to function identically so that they could bother not reading the sub rules before posting or commenting in it.
e.g.:
It’s a tool for curating the content, upvote posts you want people to see, and downvote those you think should be hidden. So stuff that’s irrelevant, factually incorrect, pointless, inflammatory etc.
Thinking that something should be hidden just because you disagree with it is problematic.
In addition to what others said, in comments the down vote is meant to be used on comments that don’t further discussion in good faith.
I used to subscribe to that idea, but I’ve since changed my mind. If the far majority use upvotes to mean agreement, then me upvoting a controversial, but well structured, opinion will likely be viewed as agreement as well.
It’s a nice idea to think the voting system is meant to promote discussion, instead of homogenise opinions in a community.