this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2025
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Do you rarely vote on anything at all?

Do you upvote when something is interesting but rarely downvote? Do you downvote when something isn't interesting but rarely upvote?

Do you vote to signal agreement or disagreement?

Do you vote to encourage insightful replies regardless whether you agree or not?

I rarely interact with the voting system on sites, aside from the occasional missclick, that is. While I think it can be useful when searching for answers or tutorials, especially on topics you're not familiar with and can't judge competence vs BS, I think in more social spaces it leads to both echo chambers and karma farming, and it feeds social media addiction by giving you little validations for every upvote you receive.

I also think it prevents people from having more meaningful interactions. Rather than replying with 'This was insightful", "I disagree because..." or "that was really funny" You just make a number go up or down.

(page 2) 36 comments
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[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

I update almost every post and comment I see. I only very rarely downvote on purpose but because my app lets me swipe to vote, sometimes I swipe incorrectly.

[–] DaMummy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

What I picked up from imgur is, I laugh,I upvote. No exceptions.

[–] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I click the arrows.

[–] Libb@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I seldom use it:

  • I barely ever downvote and only stuff that is very hateful or really too angry and that somehow managed to pass through my filters.
  • I may upvote content I find really useful/enriching in a discussion.
  • I do not use up/downvote as a way to show I agree or disagree with whatever I vote on. If I disagree with a content and think it's worth saying it, I will write a comment.
  • Related: I also don't care about being downvoted unless there is a comment accompanying it to explain the motivation/reasoning behind it. People are more than welcome to disagree with whatever I say and even to dislike me as a person, I'm fine with that, but if they really want to help me realize (and maybe admit) that there was an issue in what I said, a mere downvote won't cut it. They will need to put in some more work ;)

I don't really downvote. I try to be helpful, so if someone's just being rude, I typically just block them. Probably more efficient.

The default for Reddit was to hide posts with X downvotes, so people could manipulate that to hide posts they don't like. Lemmy doesn't do that by default, so there's no real utility. Also users can choose to sort by time and ignore vote counts (I do) so your downvotes literally don't do anything for those users. Thus, I just block people who go out of their way to be rude or offensive.

I upvote people who are helpful and/or kind. Otherwise, I don't interact with that system.

[–] atopi@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 day ago

I upvote cats/dogs/owls/other cute animals, memes i find funny, things i find impressive, people being nice, things i find interesting/informative

I cant downvote thanks to my instance

[–] sefra1@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I used to upvote anything I agree with or that is somewhat midly interesting, but then I realised that if I do that, then the truly good content gets drowned in a sea of upvotes.

(For example let's say I upvote a comment in a thread that I think it's really good and exceptional, but then I also upvote other comments that ya I kinda support even tho it's nothing exceptional. Then I'm drowning the exceptionally good comment.)

Because of that I now tend to limit my upvotes so when I actually vote they weight more.

As for downvotes I personally think they are rude, and usually try to only downvote when something is factually wrong or downright reactionary.

Instead I prefer to upvote comments disagreeing instead.

Sometimes I tend to upvote a comment when I think it was down voted unfairly.

And also down vote commercial posts of commercial products that I see as nothing but advertisement.

[–] mech@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago

I upvote every post and comment I reply to, and every reply to one of my posts or comments, cause I think the fact that we're communicating here is pretty neat.
Unless the reply really isn't neat at all, then I don't vote.
I downvote obvious trolls, ragebait, bad faith arguing and rule breaking.

[–] thatradomguy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I actually don't understand how it's supposed to work but recently, if I see a post about something I want to stay top/hot, I upvote.

Also, when somebody has a funny/interesting comment, I will upvote.

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 0 points 13 hours ago

I upvote things I like. I downvote things by accident, because my back gesture is similar to Lemmy's downvote gesture.

I obviously also downvote people who are being annoying.

[–] pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 6 hours ago

I'm on blahaj zone and we don't have downvotes, so I can't downvote anyone which honestly feels a lot healthier to me personally.

Only on very rare scenarios so downvote bigotry or plain rudeness and upvote effort posts and such.

[–] fl1p@piefed.zip 1 points 1 day ago

Upvote: Made me lol, thoughtful opinion or something I generally agree with.

Downvote: Pointless post, doesn't fit the comm, and/or lazy/overdone joke

[–] _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 1 points 1 day ago

How do you personally use upvotes/downvotes?

well I usually use Voyager, so it's a sliding gesture with my thumb. I hardly ever bother clicking the actual button, the gesture is just much faster.

[–] oopsgodisdeadmybad@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

I wish it was just a "this post/comment is good for the community" for up and opposite for down, but people will always (en masse) default to their emotional reaction when presented something that hits them one way or another.

Happened on that other site, happens here. People just love slapping that downvote when angry or upvote when pleased. I guess they feel some small sense of control that way.

I'm guilty of it myself, too, sometimes.

But usually I forget to vote. I only remember to do it when the post is really good or really bad.

[–] Battle_Masker@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I just upvote things I like that I wanna see again. Although there are very few lemmy front-ends on PC that'll let me see what posts I upvoted so it don't really work out too well. So far I've only found photon and stability on that is questionable if I don't go to the upvoted page right away

[–] Xylight@lemdro.id 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

hello, i am photon dev (i can hear the name mentioned anywhere in the world)

Where are you accessing photon from? if phtn.lemmy.blahaj.zone, that's on an ancient version, im pretty sure most of the problems are fixed nowadays (you can try phtn.app)

[–] Battle_Masker@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 12 hours ago

ok that was it. thanks. not sure how that happened

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

i mostly dont. unless someone is making asanine comment, or a smart ass. or if those comment because egregiously trolly, i will block as well.

[–] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I upvote intelligence, and downvote ignorance.

[–] termaxima@slrpnk.net 1 points 17 hours ago

Downvote button disabled. Wish I could also disable the upvote button.

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