My views have changed since it was implemented, I'm pretty sure that I fully supported all the upvote/downvote and agree systems implemented at the time, but nowadays I'm more in favour of just dumping every single system because I feel like they all discourage discussion in their own way, Lol. But I'm going to start with my issues with the upvote/downvote system in articles.
- I think the upvote/downvote system in articles can encourage clique-like behaviour, between fans of certain platforms, Xbox fans downvoting PlayStation fans, PlayStation fans downvoting Xbox fans, etc. Or in the case of a disliked user, that user will be disliked no matter what they've said, even if it's totally harmless, I would say I've seen all these examples in the past.
- The upvote/downvote system in articles can be easily cheated, and it has been in the past.
- I've seen the downvote system used in quite mean ways often, for example downvoting someone's totally harmless opinion, I've literally seen users downvoted before for simply posting they were looking forward to a videogame, I've seen people ask totally harmless questions and get downvoted, thus discouraging discussion, some of the comments downvoted in articles are frankly baffling.
The last reason has been a major source of annoyance with me lately, I've seen multiple instances of it which just feel plain cruel, even if I don't agree with a harmless opinion, or I'm not excited for that videogame, downvoting a user because they're excited about something, or for asking a totally harmless question, is shitty, and discourages discussion.
Also I hate and I'm 100% against that Supporters get extra voting power but that's a separate issue, Lol.
