Believe it or not I actually want to create forums/communities where the cream does rise to the top and everyone feels safe/welcome at all times, so I have a lot of opinions on how they should be run. Voting systems (or lack there of!) are critical for how things operate and meaningfully impact everyone’s experience, so it matters to me.
You’re obviously allowed to care and to express that. I hope you don’t hear me saying that I think you’re dumb or anything like that. In fact it’s pretty much the exact opposite. Most of the time when I see people complain about downvotes they’re trolls upset that it hampers their ability to be a troll but you seem like a reasonable person so I am simply seeking to better understand your perspective.
To put it another way I agree with your first sentence but I don’t generally feel like visible downvotes prevents that from happening. I actually think downvotes function to encourage good discussion more often than not. That isn’t true in all cases but it seems easier to be discouraged or get the wrong idea about prevailing sentiments if the dumb comments are just sitting there next to the good comments with no indication that a majority of other users also think they’re dumb.
Believe it or not I actually want to create forums/communities where the cream does rise to the top and everyone feels safe/welcome at all times, so I have a lot of opinions on how they should be run. Voting systems (or lack there of!) are critical for how things operate and meaningfully impact everyone’s experience, so it matters to me.
And at the end of the day, why shouldn’t I care?
You’re obviously allowed to care and to express that. I hope you don’t hear me saying that I think you’re dumb or anything like that. In fact it’s pretty much the exact opposite. Most of the time when I see people complain about downvotes they’re trolls upset that it hampers their ability to be a troll but you seem like a reasonable person so I am simply seeking to better understand your perspective.
To put it another way I agree with your first sentence but I don’t generally feel like visible downvotes prevents that from happening. I actually think downvotes function to encourage good discussion more often than not. That isn’t true in all cases but it seems easier to be discouraged or get the wrong idea about prevailing sentiments if the dumb comments are just sitting there next to the good comments with no indication that a majority of other users also think they’re dumb.
I don’t really agree but I appreciate you’re laying out your stance and giving me something to consider anyway :)