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Forums - Website Topics - Article Downvotes should be removed - Yay or Nay?

 

Should down votes be removed?

YES!!! 22 27.16%
 
NO!!! 45 55.56%
 
Keep it but stop comments from being removed 14 17.28%
 
Total:81

You can still see them, they're not hidden forever.

On the far right there is a square with a plus button inside.  Just click it and it shows.

If anything, it brings more attention to the down votes because it adds to the curiosity of what was hidden, and by clicking on it, it sticks into your memory more.



...to avoid getting banned for inactivity, I may have to resort to comments that are of a lower overall quality and or beneath my moral standards.

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Hiku said:

Just my observation, but I feel like downvoted comments attract even more eyes than they otherwise would.
Because everyone want to see what they said to get so many downvotes.

Beat you to it, sorry.



...to avoid getting banned for inactivity, I may have to resort to comments that are of a lower overall quality and or beneath my moral standards.

Let's be trendsetters and put a 0-10 score rating on comments. Then we can add Metacomment to determine the best comments of the year and calculate aggregate scores to add below people's names next to post count!

What's this reversing trend to remove down votes on you tube and articles, take it all the way I say. Let's make Black Mirror proud!



Bandorr said:

If you don't want your comments hidden - don't say shitty things. It isn't a hard concept. This also applies to being banned.

Irony 



All you have to do is look at Reddit, which is worthless for actual discussions. People with dissenting opinions often don't bother leaving a comment. It creates an environment of exclusion by providing a negative stimulus for anyone not in the majority. Worse--as we've already seen in this thread--it establishes the thought process of "if it was downvoted then it must have been wrong," which is kind of frightening. No, I don't expect this site to brainwash people the way Reddit does, but it's still icky. The online experience has become all about reinforcing the hivemind mentality and driving away or censoring anyone who diverges from the herd.

At the very least, there is no need to hide the button that reveals downvoted comments.



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Bandorr said:

If you don't want your comments hidden - don't say shitty things. It isn't a hard concept. This also applies to being banned.

I'd like to think my comments are reasonable 99% of the time (or at least I aim to post reasonable comments), but my comments get downvoted much, much more than 1% of the time. Most of the time, I'm either completely baffled as to why my comment got downvoted or I know it's because some people don't like my opinion (which I usually try to present in a reasonable and in a relatively well-argumented manner). At the very least I know I don't 'say shitty things'. Personally I find downvotes on comments both annoying and very discouraging.

In case it wasn't clear, I strongly oppose having downvotes on comments, and I think they should be removed altogether. I like them in theory but practice has shown they simply don't work.



I vote YAY, but only because the system appears to be broken. If they want to try to filter out truly troublesome comments, let the moderation team take care of it. That way you remove bias from the equation, and real discourse (or as close to real discourse as possible) can actually take place.



Yeah and YouTube removed dislikes. No don't censor how people feel. Remove the part where people are silenced. If something is truly offensive then just report it. Don't hide it.



Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

Ryuu96 said:
zero129 said:

Can agree 100% with the removal of double votes, and i never knew you could see the comments once they where hided. But i think the up votes can be good for a reason as they would make the top comments go to the top but i still think the down votes dont work as like you say some users follow others around and just down vote for the sake of it and then it becomes a pile on even if the comment is valid and fine.

To clarify, I'm not saying to remove upvotes from articles.

But I do wonder if upvotes in threads specifically are hurting discussions, there's an argument to be said that they remove the useless "agreed" posts but I also imagine they discourage posts of "I agree, for these reasons" when you can just slap an upvote to the comment and move on.

And I say this as someone who receives a lot of upvotes, Lol. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate them but it also sometimes makes me wonder from time to time if they hurt discussion.

I have to kinda disagree on this one. If someone has nothing to say except for basic "Yeah, I agree", then it won't hurt discussion in any way. The simple post of "Yeah, I agree" doesn't really add to discussion much. So, having an upvote button is nice because it helps to keep the threads clean from such basic posts. And if someone wants to go in detail, then nothing really prevents them to quote and post detailed opinion in addition to upvoting the post



 

downvoting is a way to show you can't properly reply towards a statement unless its some real cooked shit.
anyway about double or triple voting power can be just for upvotes only for those that fear for the supporter perks



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