What are your criteria for upvoting/downvoting?

I hate that I always compare Lemmy to Reddit, but Reddit used to have (not sure if they still do) guidelines called “Reddiquette” that included guidelines about upvoting and downvoting. I don’t remember the specifics (and sending too much of my browser traffic to Reddit makes me feel dirty) but one of the guidelines was not to upvote/downvote on the basis of agreement/disagreement with the content.

On Lemmy, I’m honestly a bit lax about upvoting and downvoting at all. (I’m trying to be better about it.) Buy when I do upvote/downvote, I try to do so on the basis of whether the comment/post “adds to” or “subtracts from” the community or conversation. I can disagree with one comment’s take on some subject but still upvote them if they’ve given me a more nuanced perspective on the issue. If they’re just parrotting well-known talking points and not being thoughtful with their posts, I may downvote them evren if I agree with their ultimate stance.

I’m just mostly wondering how folks on Lemmy think about upvotes/downvotes and what implications that has for the content here.

shinigamiookamiryuu,

I upvote any reply to anything I say and everything I reply to as a way of remembering where I’ve engaged. The only exceptions are things with clear perspective-lacking malice.

southsamurai,
@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

Generally, it’s based on appropriateness to the C/, effort, and usefulness.

There are exceptions, though there aren’t any on C/s that I actually use. But there might be eventually, there were on reddit.

If something doesn’t fit the C/, that’s a down vote if I notice it.

If something is horribly low effort, even if it’s in the right place, that’ll be a down vote.

Upvotes, it tends to be because something was appropriate to the C/, and/or someone put some work in. But, even a low effort post/comment can get an up vote if it’s personally useful.

I used to up vote anything and everything that was on topic, but lemmy has gotten busy enough that I tend to only vote at all if I interact with the post in some way. So, like a title that indicates the post isn’t something that will interest me, I just scroll past because there’s just so much stuff now. But, I scroll All, and sort by new by default, so I end up scrolling past stuff that isn’t in my subscription list. If I only scrolled through subscribed stuff, I’d probably end up voting the same amount, but voting on everything I saw, if that makes sense.

backhdlp,
@backhdlp@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Upvote if I find the post good and remember it exists, downvote disabled

Chetzemoka,

I’m pretty liberal with the upvotes. I like to encourage people to participate and an upvote feels like saying “hey I see you and thanks for sharing.” I regularly upvote things I don’t like or don’t agree with, if they are shared in good faith and contribute to the conversation.

Downvotes are for bigots and misinformation/disinformation/lies.

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

90% of the time, I just accidentally hit one of the arrows while scrolling on my phone and didn’t notice.

schnurrito,

Upvote: it is the same thing I was going to comment, or it is an extraordinarily good post that stands out from the masses

Downvote: it is objectively wrong or doesn’t add to the discussion at all

Vast majority of everything, I neither upvote nor downvote.

Drusas,

I downvote for people being assholes (trolling, bigotry, ad hominem, etc), spreading misinformation, or making comments which don't add to the conversation ("This.", "This is the way."), and rarely for anything else.

I upvote content that I find interesting, educational, funny, etc. I also upvote people for being polite and willing to admit to being incorrect ("Thanks for the information, I didn't know that", etc).

xia,

“Glad i saw that” -> up-vote, “Wish i didn’t see that” -> down-vote

nix, (edited )
@nix@merv.news avatar

Up: more people should read this

Down: less people should have to read this

whileloop,
@whileloop@lemmy.world avatar

“Do you wish there were more content like this?” Upvote.

“Do you wish there were less content like this?” Downvote.

clearleaf,

I don’t vote very much because that’s just too much responsibility for me to handle.

SHamblingSHapes,

I generally don’t downvote. I report a comment/post if they break rules. I block users that are stupid, mean, comment in bad faith, or are otherwise negative to my experience. I use an app that allows me to apply unique labels to users that only I can see if I am not quite ready to block them but want to be ready on next offense. I.e., someone who uses dog whistle language but I’m not sure it was intentional.

Most of the accounts I made for Lemmy are on instances that disable downvoting. That wasn’t planned on my part, but I don’t mind.

Prewash_Required,

I’m not sure if this is just another way of saying what others have said, but I also upvote if something accomplished the theme of the community. The example that comes to mind is from the other site, but if something on r/mademesmile actually made me smile, I upvoted. As for downvotes, I usually save them for posts that I want to be less visible for whatever reason. Sometimes that is because I disagree sometimes it is because they are reposts, or low effort trolling, etc. Right or wrong, that’s how I do it.

xc2215x,

I agree with it then I upvote. Usually don’t downvote.

helmet91, (edited )

Wow, I’ve used Reddit for years, and I have never ever seen such a guideline before! Now this is a really interesting post, and the comments are pretty insightful that make me think.

Yes, it totally makes sense not to upvote or downvote based on agreement or disagreement, but based on relevancy and accuracy. But what if the author is asking about our opinion, and someone has already commented my exact opinion? It feels natural to upvote it based on agreement.

Here’s an example: there’s a post asking about opinions, maybe advice, and then there are two comments. One that says “do drugs, kids, it’s good”, and one that says “no, don’t do drugs, drugs are always bad”. And I absolutely agree with one of those comments. If I upvote the one I agree with, and leave the other alone, maybe even downvote it, then the author of the post will see comments with weight. On the other hand, if I don’t do anything, because “oh look, someone already commented my precise opinion, so I’m done here”, then the author of the post might remain in doubt, because there will be two equally presented opinions and that’s like no advice at all.

So all in all, it makes sense to have a system about what to upvote and what to downvote, but there are just things that feel wrong to upvote, even if the etiquette dictates that it should be upvoted.

Nevertheless, it would be a great idea to come up with a system (that can be applied in any situation) and stick to it.

Here’s my take though:

What it felt like on Reddit by others:

Upvote: totally random

Downvote: totally random

What it feels like on Lemmy + what my impression of the voting system has been up until now:

Upvote: agree/useful/my girlfriend’s post or comment

Downvote: strongly disagree/useless/spam/troll

From now on:

Well… this post definitely makes me think. I still have to make up my mind.

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