Post upvotes are like github stars

Yeah, it's the strange thing about engaging post titles - people seem to be so busy answering them, they 'forget' to also upvote them. In contrast, a meme that's funny but about which there's not much to say, is more likely to get an upvote as some kind of compensation for the lack of discussion.
- If a post is interesting enough to write a comment, it also deserves an upvote.
  
  Maybe
  
  you must upvote this post in order to comment
- Its a silly system that only worked on reddit for a short while. If you are old enough you’d know that already from slaahdot karma development/history
  
  /. 's moderation is the closest any moderation will get to 'adequate at best', but vastly imperfect.
  Natalie Portman's grits approve this message.
- My expectation is that a post's score is upvotes minus downvotes, but I think it should be more like upvotes plus comments with downvotes excluded (or maybe let users filter based on upvote/downvote ratio or something). Maybe count commenters instead of comments.

Downvotes without any response: This is unpopular with this community, but probably correct.
Downvotes with responses: This was either contentious or wrong.
1 upvote, 0 downvotes, 10+ responses: You posted something really dumb, and Hexbear found out.
- You posted something ~~really dumb~~ criticizing china, and Hexbear found out.
  
  For me it was having the audacity to state Holodomor was real, ~~while denying it is actually a crime in my county.~~ Looking it up it actually isn't, but it's widely accepted to have happened and is taught in history lessons.
  
  You posted something really dumb criticizing china.

I turned off vote display and rarely miss seeing the votes. See also Facebook Demetricator.
- Sounds like an interesting experiment. Know if I can do this using Boost?
  
  IDK what Boost is here, but Voyager and the standard web UI can both turn off the vote display.
  
  It's a lemmy account setting. If the Boost app does not expose the show "show scores" setting you can change it in a browser and Boost should reflect the change once you restart it. To make the change, just go to https://lemmy.world/ and go to your account settings after you log in.
- After eighteen Days you are still without a downvote, btw.

Tabs are better than 4 spaces
- 100% agree.
  I configure my editor to use 3 space characters per tab. I've worked with people who prefer tabs represented as 2 or 8 or just about any number. But I can look at the same code as them worth my preferred look.
  Also works best for line length restrictions. A tab is a single character and always is.
  
  A fellow Trinitarian Tabber!
- Die alone on that hill, brother.

For me it's categorizing radical ideologies correctly. I just hate people throwing around buzzwords, calling anyone a communist/fascist they disagree with. Those words have meanings. You can actually be worse then the fascists and still not be one, it's not impossible. You can still be hated for that, but you didn't automatically become one, because you are right-wing and coincidentally an asshole. But the moment someome calls you a fascist, while you're just an asshole, their opinon automatically becomes invalid and wrong.

Most commenters comment multiple times while engaging with others in the comments section.

Why not just deactivate all votes. Seeing having voting makes Lemmy more like Reddit. Also deactivate all votes will help to have more discussions. Due to users can’t just downvote you and call it a day. They have to tell you why and how you’re wrong.
- How in the world would you sort posts?
  
  I sort them by "New".
- op, this is what downvotes are for
  
  I don't see it.
  I am in agreement with this: https://lemmy.ml/comment/13209788

Semi-tangential. Every time I get downvoted, I move an inch closer to the exit door of this community.
I'm talking about comments rather than posts, of course. And it should go without saying that the comments in question do not contain factual errors or even rudeness. Just pure opinion, expressed civilly.
Downvoting is, almost always, poisonous behavior in an online community. It is just as poisonous as saying "Shut up" to someone in a real-life social situation.
IMO the corporate social networks get this fact better than the literalist geeky types and other well-meaning idealists to be found in this forum.
- Every time I get downvoted, I move an inch closer to the exit door of this community.
  Lol OK bye.
  Nobody gives a shit and complaining about down votes is the quickest way to get them.
  Guess what! Outside of a few custom instances that for some reason want to be reddit, the fediverse doesn't track your total karma.
  Unless you're going back to keep track of your comments for some weird reason, the only time you see a down voted comment is when you get replies.
  I could have hundreds of net down votes by now, but I don't know because luckily my instance doesn't track votes.
  The point is, it's a little number next to an arrow. Who gives a shit.
  
  Yeah I know that I'm courting downvotes here but that doesn't disprove my argument.
  My argument is that downvoting opinions expressed in a thoughtful way is just uncivil. It degrades the atmosphere. It causes the less thick-skinned to shut up, to self-censor, to leave. The inevitable result will be less civil conversation, less participants, and - to caricature it a bit - just a bunch of guys shouting and snarking and sniping and generally "not giving a shit".
  And let's be honest, you probably are a guy. I am too BTW.
- There's always the option to join an instance with downvoting disabled or to turn off the vote tallies yourself in your account settings.
  
  the option to join an instance with downvoting disabled
  Having trouble wrapping my mind around this. The post is on Site A. My comment is on Site B. The evil downvoter sees it on Site C. Um - what happens next?
  turn off the vote tallies yourself in your account settings
  Already did that, the exact number is a waste of screen space.
  I don't deny that voting is helpful when it's used to rate the quality of the contribution - i.e. whether or not it adds values, makes you think. But to vote based on how much you subjectively agree or disagree is completely useless, it's all about the person voting and nothing about the comment. It adds literally nothing and when it's a downvote it stifles and poisons the atmosphere too. Anyway, I've made my point.
- Every time I get downvoted, I move an inch closer to the exit door of this community.
  By community, do you mean just this particular Lemmy community or the community on Lemmy collectively? If the latter, there are other alternative Lemmy communities on other instances that may be better suited for you.
  Just would hate to see someone leave Lemmy over toxic energy in one place. There's a big world here in fediverse!
- It is still important to be able to disagree publicly with people who's opinions are just wrong, such as those saying something is trash because it is old, or not answering the asked question but instead answering some useless hypothetical about "safety".
  
  By community, do you mean just this particular Lemmy community or the community on Lemmy collectively? If the latter, there are other alternative Lemmy communities on other instances that may be better suited for you.
  You mean "the former". But this is a counter-argument that dares not speak its name. My proposition is that all online communities suffer when opinions are downvoted (which is how the downvote button is overwhelmingly used), not just this community. Just as all dinner parties suffer when someone points their finger at someone else and says, "Shut up, you're wrong".
- I heard downvotes expressed a consensus that a comment or post does not hold value in the context of that community. It's not "shut up" but more "well that's not relevant".
  
  Unsure if you're even being serious here. The relevancy of the subject matter is not in question. The issue at hand is that people are downvoting opinions. Forgive my directness but if an opinion does not hold value in the context of the community, that seems to me just a waffly way of saying that the opinion is not welcome in the community without actually saying it.
  
  Unfortunately people don't see voting systems as a method to highlight the relavency of a contribution. They see it as a like/dislike system, and so I see as shut up signal used by most because downvoting a contribution buries it to the bottom where few people will see it.
  If it was used for relevancy and quaility then communities would be self regulating by the users. I believe Reddit's guidelines state(s/d) it's voting system was meant to be for relevancy, even though most people use it as a like/dislike system.
- You might find a better environment at Beehaw? Not my cup of tea, but each to their own.
  
  Yes, others have suggested that too. Thanks.
- Yeah I'm always confused by the people who are like the downvote button is for off topic discussions. Like no that's reporting and functionally the downvote button is the "I had a negative reaction to this button" and the up vote is the "I had a positive reaction to this button"
  Personally I don't downvote anyone because it just feels petty and pointless. Some of my favorite comments have loads of downvotes and to me it just makes whatever dumb shit I said funnier
  
  functionally the downvote button is the “I had a negative reaction to this button” and the up vote is the “I had a positive reaction to this button”
  Exactly this.
  Some of my favorite comments have loads of downvotes and to me it just makes whatever dumb shit I said funnier
  If you're talking about your comments, and you laugh at others who downvote them, then well done. But I submit that most humans are not so thick-skinned.
  There's also the question of visibility: downvoting a comment is not just saying "You're wrong", it's making the comment less visible to others. A form of censorship, basically. I personally find it extremely annoying and unfair when it happens.
  Perhaps it also has to do with how much time and thought you put into the offending comment.
- Obviously my argument is being confirmed by the response to this comment. Seriously guys - I would bet that you're all guys - you'll regret it when you're left with nobody to talk to but other cynics and nihilists and mindless jokers.
  
  I would bet that you’re all guys
  Weirdly sexist take....
  
  I gave you some from a girl to help balance things out!
  But I can promise you, from many years net positive on reddit and a not disimilar result here, that you’re not reading your own tone.
  Be mindful of the tone, only come off as combative against a near universally disliked topic, and know when you don’t care to curate yourself and are ready for the downvotes.
  Your wording here makes you out to be combative, and people are combative in response. Read your own comments as if they’re directed AT you. And look specifically at what’s likely to make you want to argue back. You may even be surprised at what can get net positive response with the right wording.
  
  The irony of yout cynical attitude and your totally blind to it is interesting, to say the least.
  
  And people like me who don’t go away just because they get downvoted.
  You can go find your community of all positive interactions, and well keep our positive/negative mix.