Text Post: 15.06.19 Morning Coffee: Downvotes, Power, and You Favorite Tribes posted by Moderator
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  • spaceghoti
    +2

    Down vote is too important to scrap. It's positives far outweight the negatives.

    I don't necessarily disagree with you, but could you elaborate on what positives and negatives you're thinking of?

    • gottlieb
      +3

      I know that getting down voted every so often is not cool but that's what happens when you give people the power of anonymity. I'd be willing to bet that if votes were public (for example people can see how everyone voted, some sites do this), people would down vote less for stupid reasons, but now everyone can see your voting history (I would hate this).

      Positives:

      1. Spam/troll protection (a few down votes and its over)

      2. Anonymous

      3. I don't see a lot of abuse (right now)

      4. Down vote reason selection is there if people are willing to use it

      Negatives:

      1. People will feel butthurt when down voted, esp for no reason

      Feel free to add to this list.

      • caelreth
        +3

        The problem with anonymity is obvious... the problem with posting names with votes is far fewer votes and possibly no down votes even when warranted because no one wants to be the 'bad guy.'

      • spaceghoti
        +2

        Also under negatives:

        2. The change in karma affects visibility.

        3. If downvotes provoke moderator/admin intervention as is being discussed, it creates more work for them.

        4. It can color people's perceptions of the content of the post even if they don't realize it.

        • gottlieb (edited 8 years ago)
          +4

          2. I think you mean reputation not karma?

          3. Agreed

          4. Agreed but again it's just expanding on my negative point. New users may get turned off if they see a down vote right away

          • spaceghoti
            +2

            I think you mean reputation not karma?

            Whoops! Heh. Yes, that's what I meant.

            Agreed but again it's just expanding on my negative point. New users may get turned off if they see a down vote right away

            I think it's important to distinguish between "I got a downvote! What a crappy user base!" and "that post has a lot of downvotes. It must not be very good."