Not every platform on the fediverse has a downvote system, but those that do (Lemmy, piefed) are heading down a bad path, imo. Downvoting is one of the worst features of reddit, leading to dogpiling, group think, and silencing of minority viewpoints. I do see the value of it, on the surface, and if you want to enable it for yourself to allow certain posts to be downvoted for your own information, I think you should be allowed to do so, but having it set as default for all posts just leads to a toxic and conformist environment, which is what I thought the fediverse was trying to get away from.
I really like the ability to downvote. It enables me to say “this was badly argumented and a waste of my time” without spending too much effort for that. I’d write it anyway, but probably using impolite words that would be worse for the Fediverse than my downvotes are.
I dont remember where I’ve seen the stats, but I make about 10 upvotes per one downvote. I strongly believe at least my downvoting behaviour does more good than bad for the Forumverse.
When I was looking for a good instance for myself, Blåhaj seemed like an excellent fit, but when I noticed the downvote button was missing, I changed my mind. I would be annoyed if that feature disappeared altogether.
At least on PieFed’s Matrix chat there has been very constructive conversations about whether and how to allow downvoting. To my eyes, the solutions they came up with seem very good.
Not that I’d remember off the back of my hand what the hell they decided in the end. Maybe someone will tell? :) @rimu@piefed.social @wjs018@piefed.social
Downvotes are to put a comment towards the bottom of the page for being irrelevant to the post, not to tell someone you disagree with them.
According to who?
Also, what’s the difference? If I down vote you to bury your comment for being irrelevant, poorly worded, bad faith, etc. or down vote you because I don’t like your comment, the result is the same.