It makes me so angry to watch conservatives cite “maternal health“ in their cases.

Because if downvotes are used to express disagreement then all it does is sort by “things agreed on by the first people in this community that saw it.” In fact many sites (like Reddit) explicitly say that’s not what it’s there for.

Is that how most forums and communities should operate to you? Do you believe that’s how we should sort things? If so then I simply disagree with that notion and there’s not much more to say. If you don’t, then there’s your answer.

It is what it is! I don’t even see downvotes on my end but not surprised it happened. It’s magic internet points so whatever lol

It’s completely relevant. You are arguing that the purpose of down voting is to get rid of the noise/misinformation/dumb stuff/generally unwanted content. I am saying there are better options.

I think p2025 is sufficiently terrifying that the democrats would be wise to hammer it everywhere. Just quote sections and call it a day.

Deplatforming isn’t just people. This includes removing communities and barring links to certain sites.

Damn I got got

How is it gatekeeping to say “you used it wrong“? If you put your car in reverse when you want to drive forward and I correct you, am I gatekeeping driving?

Saying “this is incorrect” when there is a clear right/wrong usage is not gatekeeping

For the most part it is how it plays out

We seem to be coming to very different conclusions and neither of us is providing a source so lol

I will say this, deplatforming has proven to be consistently the most powerful tool. Down votes do not stop incessant bullshit, only removing the people who do and in the content itself has proven effective.

Like the idea, but this isn’t remotely how this meme is used lol

That’s not how it plays out though that’s my entire point.

I think a cap is a great idea. Or just don’t show vote counts and push down downvoted stuff at least. But showing them to people tends to produce dog piling and false consensus

But that isn’t how it’s used at all. It’s used as a disagree/crowd vibe button. Name one site where the downvote button actually separates wheat from the chaff and doesn’t 1) just signal disagreement and/or 2) just create astroturfing opportunities.

Also, if your community is too big to moderate, then you need to close the doors or add more people to run it. I’ve never liked the excuse of “too big to control.“ If it’s too big, then stop growing.

But users can. They can block people, they can block communities, they have all kinds of autonomy. It’s not complete yet but we do have tools.

I am not saying users should not be able to control what they see. I am saying that the downvote mechanism specifically is ineffective. If you have other ideas I am super down to hear them because I find this subject fascinating and I am always in favor of everyone across-the-board having control over what is in front of them and not unfeeling algorithms that only prioritize engagement.

Sure they can. Moderators/admins can remove comments. If you’re talking about just things thrown out on Facebook, at some point people need to unfriend/block people they don’t want to associate with, because unfortunately Facebook et al are never going to do what needs to be done.

I agree with you there is a problem of content moderation. But downvotes are not the solution and have never proven to be an effective deterrent. Removal/deplatforming is the only tool that has proven consistently effective. It’s why on a discord server i help run we have very low tolerance towards people who are sufficiently disruptive or have a chilling effect on conversations, even if they aren’t breaking the letter of the law. At some point you just have to get rid of these people or they cause a disproportionate amount of damage. It’s amazing what 5 people can do to a community of 500.

And before somebody goes on some rant about power-hungry mods and uses some example of how they were “banned for literally no reason“ where they probably did something but won’t show us what happened, the community actually really likes the way we do things and we only end up booting a couple of people a year because we have a handle on it lol

Half the content is screenshots from Reddit which in turn are half the time just screenshots from Twitter. May as well just keep the train going at this point.

On a more serious note, downvotes seem to be never any good for any forum or discussion platform of any kind. I’ve yet to see them used as a “not contributing“ button or whatever other idealistic definition sites come up with. It is almost universally a disagree button and every community I’ve seen that gets rid of it is better for it. I mean think about it: how many conversations have we all seen where people start bickering about votes? Passive aggressive edits because one person got one downvote, somebody acting as if their opinion is correct because they have 3 upvotes and the other person has -2. It’s honestly just not healthy and is primarily used as a cudgel rather than any meaningful sorting of comments and posts.

Twitter is already a shit hole of negativity and toxicity. Do they really need to add the ability downvote people?

Edit: I guess I was not direct enough about this point, but I am not against people controlling the content in front of them or deciding what is good/bad. I am saying specifically that the downvote mechanism specifically is not a good tool. Especially showing downvotes.

No but see a partisan committee with an axe to grind said it definitely came from a Chinese lab after 2 days of nonsense and grilling fauci so it’s fake and the vaccine is lethal and MAGA.

If it’s an official act they let you do it.

Thanks!

I don’t know why you felt the need to send this when like 20 comments have repeated it and this happened days ago but ok lol