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.
I try to upvote most things I see, especially if someone took the time to comment under one of my posts.
If I downvote, it’s usually because I see someone is actively being rude or is trying to steer something light into something controversial to bait arguments.
I’ve found that the Risa community very much uses downvotes to disagree. I made a harmless joke and got dogpiled on, including a very toxic and rude comment from Stamets.
Since you are a highly respected member there, and really all of Lemmy, I think it would be greatly beneficial for you to openly advocate for people sticking to your logic when it comes to downvotes.
Thank you, and I’m sorry if people dogpiled on you about something. I just want everybody to be cool to each other and have fun.
Thanks. I appreciate the sentiment. It is the internet after all so I basically always expect toxicity to some extent, but I was just surprised at the extreme disproportion of the response. Also, I expected more from Lemmy and in particular Risa, but I guess that’s on me.
I’ve found that Lemmy tends to be about 50% more chill than reddit, but it definitely has some similar challenges. I try to be positive on a personal level and try to support others who I see doing the same.
In my experience so far (just a few months) Risa has been one of the most friendly places on lemmy - maybe it was just a full moon or something? Whatever the case, I say positive people are always welcome.