tateJun 18, 2023

What happens to downvotes when instances have different policies?

https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/118396

What happens to downvotes when instances have different policies? - SDF Chatter

My instance has downvoting enabled, but I’ve learned that some other instances do not. Do the vote totals look different to users on different instances? It seems like some users on instances that don’t allow downvoting are unaware that it’s not the same lemmy-wide. It would be pretty confusing for them to see their vote go down.

Show threadCevilia (they/she/…)Jun 18, 2023
I'm on an instance that has downvoting disabled. I can't downvote. But, I also only see upvotes, and posts even on other instances are sorted by raw upvotes (not upvotes-downvotes). A downvote does not affect my experience in any way.
Show threadAvaddonLFC ☄️ 🤘Jun 18, 2023
That sounds like a bad thing.
Show threadCevilia (they/she/…)Jun 18, 2023
I disagree. Downvotes rarely add anything of value to the discussion that can't be expressed simply by not upvoting. :)
Show threadWit
I respectfully disagree. Downvotes add a way of gauging the percent of people who support/don't support a comment. Let's say I'm asking for advice about which product to buy. With an upvotes-only system the upvote count is biased towards the earliest comment, whereas with an up/down vote system, the ratio helps you detect comments with heavy bias or blatantly wrong facts. So an upvote/downvote system makes it easier to tell the credibility of a comment, basically allowing you to indirectly gauge the opinion of the community rather than the one person who commented.
Jun 18, 2023 at 10:30amWeb
Show threadCevilia (they/she/…)Jun 18, 2023
I see your points, and they do make sense, but I respectfully disagree with your conclusion. My reasoning is that, from my experience, a downvote has no nuance. A reply saying "this is wrong and here's why" with a hundred upvotes is useful. A downvote is basically the equivalent of flicking a peanut.
Show threadyourgodluciferJun 18, 2023
does a comment/post really need hundreds of comments saying similar things it also helps to hide spam content and trolls
Show threadCevilia (they/she/…)Jun 19, 2023
No, why would you think that?
Show threadyourgodluciferJun 19, 2023

You remove the downvotes you juat get people more people in the comments with "you're an idiot" or whatever instead of just a downvote.

It's not like those kinds of comments are really that nuanced or helpfull either.