• Cris@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Earnest question- what is it supposed to be used for? I don’t downvote people very often, but I think I’ve only ever seen it used express approval or disapproval so that the score reflects community sentiment

    How is it supposed to be used?

    • HereIAm@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      In addition to what others said, in comments the down vote is meant to be used on comments that don’t further discussion in good faith.

      I used to subscribe to that idea, but I’ve since changed my mind. If the far majority use upvotes to mean agreement, then me upvoting a controversial, but well structured, opinion will likely be viewed as agreement as well.

      It’s a nice idea to think the voting system is meant to promote discussion, instead of homogenise opinions in a community.

      • Cris@lemmy.world
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        17 minutes ago

        Yeah, that’s kind of the nature of communication I think, and ultimately votes are a form of communication :/

        If people understand them to mean agreement or disagreement, that’s the message they’ll recieve regardless of whether it was the message that you were trying to send.

        I guess if I wanna convey I appreciate someone’s contribution even though I don’t share their perspective I can always leave a comment; that seems like something I’d appreciate seeing in my inbox so maybe it’s worthwhile for me to make that a habit

        • HereIAm@lemmy.world
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          18 minutes ago

          Yeah that’s something I do sometimes as well. I usually just don’t vote on a comment as a third option for when I disagree with them, but don’t want to punish having a different viewpoint ^^

    • dch82
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      7 hours ago

      when a post doesn’t fit the community purpose or is generally inappropriate

      • Cris@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        I guess that’s usually also the basis on which I disagree with someone 😅 most of the time if I’m downvoting someone it’s because I think they’re being unkind, which I consider being inappropriate

        Thanks for sharing your perspective with me :)