I don’t downvote because my instance has disabled downvotes (because they’re often used to harass the minorities the instance I’m on is dedicated to protecting)

I upvote things I like or agree with, and sometimes just when I feel good-will towards a user even if their message is problematic (like when in a disagreement, but there is a desire to maintain and build trust still)

I updoot basically everyone I interact with, or anyone I think has shared good insights, funny jokes or some other thing in that order. Or when relevant to a community like the unpopular opinion community where you upvote what you consider unpopular and downvote what you consider popular

I downvote when I think someone has a bad take, or is being hostile or spamming

And I don’t interact when im either feeling neutral on it, a good take is proposed in an asshole way, or someone whose comment is disagreeable enough for me not even consider engaging

I upvote when the argument is good or I want to give a little more visibility for the argument expressed in the comment. And if it’s a joke, to show that I enjoyed the joke.

I downvote if an argument is in bad faith or not thought of thoroughly at all.

If I can look at a comment and perceive it as helpful, funny or overall a positive addition to the discussion at hand, then I will like/upvote it.

Being said the inverse is not true. If a comment is negative or takes away from the conversation at hand, I will likely ignore it or leave a comment in response to the comment/post

I very rarely will downvote a comment or post, due to a combination of the fact that I have the system disabled completely on my end, so I don’t even have a button or the ability to see it. and I find down-voting with how it’s implemented on Lemmy counter-productive to a healthy ecosystem. I had the same issue with Reddit when I was on that platform as well.

Among other things I downvote self-censorship. Not only the relatively new TikTok-brainrot stuff, but I also tend to downvote the classic American brainrot like ‘heck’ or ‘gosh’.

It’s fine if you want to swear. It’s fine if you don’t want to swear, too. But in this case don’t make me think of the word you won’t dare to say.

I generaly will upvote replies or posts were the commenter is making a sensible point in an argument, (even if it politically may NOT be something I agree with) as I do come to sites like lemmy with the “old school” usenet conversation philosophy.

If I can be a foil that another person can have ideas bounced off (esp. if they are really good ideas) I will jump in, upvote and comment.

I will upvote when someone is showing their artwork and I see a sincere effort and openness to share - that is always nice, even if the person is starting out and the work isn’t very polished. Be it cooking, photography, music, art, carpentry… whatever… people have to start somewhere and I will never tear into someoone’s effort in a destructive way.

I also upvote when someone like on the music comms brings a new artist whose style is something I have not heard before (and at my age, that is a rarity) and is well crafted and complex… Love that esp. so.

I rarely ever downvote unless it’s racist/sexist/bigoted nonsense or complete bullshit/misinformation. I don’t downvote people I merely disagree with.

I upvote clever jokes, insightful comments, and anything I think isn’t pointless. I upvote a lot, haha.

I upvote things that required effort, present seemingly honest thoughts are are not dismissive against anyone. This includes jokes, L takes, W takes, anything.

I don’t downvote much. Mostly when people engage in demagogy or don’t read post/comment they respond to, as I hate with a passion both weaponised ignorance and twisting words.

If I don’t agree with a post or comment, IMO there is already function for that and it’s called reply. Maybe I am the one in the wrong after all, downvoting and moving on won’t let me check.

Also hi. You decided to do this after responding to me. Have an upvote for effort shown ;p

I think the point of view described in the reddiquette is the most beneficial for good communities:

Vote. If you think something contributes to conversation, upvote it. If you think it doesn’t contribute to the community it’s posted in or is off-topic in a particular community, downvote it.

So I don’t upvote what other people say just because I agree with their opinion, or downvote because I disagree, but rather based on whether they’re contributing to the conversation in a useful way. I frequently upvote people that argue with me, as long as they’re addressing what I wrote in good faith.

This idea goes back further too - back when Digg was the most popular such website, the idea was that you “digg up” things that you think should be more visible (things that you think are worthwhile for other people to see), and “digg down” (bury) things that aren’t.

For example, if I upvote an article about genocide, it’s not because I approve of genocide, but because I think it’s important for other people to see the article.

the instance i use does not have downvotes. i personally like this, as if someone disagrees with something, they must express that via their own words, which i find to be a lot more productive and useful!

my basis is, if the comment contributes meaningfully/helpfully to the subject at hand—whether that is via explanation, personal storytelling of something relevant, something funny or kind that makes other people smile/feel joy, among many others—then i elect to give an upvote.

if it is unintelligible to me (like a reference i don’t get), overly provocative, actively harmful (anti-vaccination stuff etc.) or otherwise not made in a real effort to contribute anything useful or interesting, then i elect not to give an upvote.

that is just my reasoning though :)

I downvote the bot that posts nothing but links to reddit. I could block it and move on but somebody has to tell it that it sucks. Sometimes I’ll go to the profile and downvote every post until I get bored or catch up. This is a way to quickly tag the bot post for when it shows up in Top Hour feed (often). None of the posts lead to any sort of discussion here. It’s a neverending stream of shit in communities it moderates so reporting is a waste of fuckin time.

This is Lemmy and not reddit. I am here for Lemmy not reddit content. I am certain there are a lot of reddit refugees here. People who left and don’t want to look back. If I wanted to read clankers replying to clankers in threads I cant participate in provided to you by clankers I would have stayed on reddit and tried to not get permanently banned.

The worst part is that sometimes the posts have a compelling topic. I’ll read the post title (and not the user who posted it) and be excited about the discussion it could bring about. The disappointment in seeing it being a link to reddit by that bot after reading the title is almost palpable.

Upvotes are a different story. Since it means less here than it does on reddit I try to do it more often for human posts. There is less incentive to farm karma here so I am more willing to do my part in boosting good contributions made in good faith.

I upvote a lot of comments. I try not to downvote many - I try to only downvote shitty comments, which are not ones with which I disagree, but shitty arguments or other bad actors. I also try not to upvote comments with which I agree that are shitty.

But I admit I’m nowhere near 100% on this.

But overall, I like upvoting lots of comments. If I read it and like it, I typically upvote. If I disgree but thought it was well-written or decently-written, I tend to upvote.

It pisses me off when I write a well-thought-out comment that has information that I wish people in the thread would read but it goes against preconceived notions so it attracts downvotes. It sucks. But that’s just how things are.

That I have RSD doesn’t help, though. I struggle not to take replies personally, but it’s difficult when that’s the only way I can seem to read something. But this begins to stray from the question at hand.

If i comment on a post or reply to a comment, I upvote it. Case in point.

If i think a post is in the wrong place, I downvote it. For example, I follow a lot of art communities. In artshare I upvote literally every post because I think creativity should be encouraged, and sharing your creative journey should be encouraged. However, I feel like the traditionalart community is for sharing professional art pieces. I’ve already seen your same piece in 4 other communities,et me have one place for polished art.

Way back in the Reddit days I used to upvote everything I interacted with and liked or thought was contributing to the conversation.

After the API drama I deleted my account, but I still browsed Reddit anonymously for a while before joining Lemmy. Obviously that meant I couldn’t upvote anything. Unfortunately, I think those habits kinda transferred to my Lemmy account and these days I barely upvote anything and downvote a lot of things I disagree with.

I need to put in the effort to relearn both upvoting things in general and upvoting things I disagree with that are contributing to the conversation. It’s just really annoying to have to do that for every post and comment

When I joined Lemmy I used to upvote everything I mild agreed, but then I felt that I couldn’t emphasise the truly good comments because I already upvoted everything else.

So now I only upvote the best comments of a thread or a post (or at least of the ones I get to read).

As for down votes, I kinda hate getting down voted, therefore I don’t usually down vote just because I disagree, I can disagree and still respect one’s opinion (unless it’s something reactionary and/or that trully infuriates me).

If I said something that is factually wrong then by all means, down vote so other people may not be mislead by something I thought it was true. But I don’t think it’ nice to down vote on comments just because you don’t share the same opinion on a topic. Or because your personal experience is different from mine.

I also downvote a lot when posts on “technology” communities have nothing to do with (any new) technology and instead are just advertisements for some corporate product.