I dont know about your exact situation but the ability to downvote is instance specific. My instance for example has downvotes switched off.
this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
-7 points (41.5% liked)
No Stupid Questions
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I'm on lemmy.world. I'll did a quick search but nothing popped up immediately.
I don't know but I've always thought this sort of place should have 4 buttons for a post. Relevant Irrelevant, I like, I do not like. This way people could disagree with something, but show that they think it is a good fit for the magazine.
I disagree. There is rarely a relevance for like/dislike and all upvotes and downvotes are, should be viewed as and used as indicators of relevance.
Upvote what you find relevant/interesting, not what you like.
Downvote what you find irrelevant to the community or what uses language that you find inappropriate for that community, not what you don't like.
I downvoted this because I don't like it.
Where is your god now?
I assume you mean, that you disagree with my idea. In this case I find it a somewhat valid use of a downvote within the system that I outlined. But if everyone downvotes what they disagree with, before actually engaging with the content, it turns Lemmy into just another echo chamber.
No I think you're right, but it's unenforceable and indistinguishable. Being hung up on it is silly IMO. More transparent to just do 2 sets of arrows.
Sometimes the internet needs to tell you that your content is relevant and also people think you're s fuckwit :).
Probably right
"Indicators of relevance" is fine in theory, but that's (allegedly) how it was supposed to work on Reddit too, and... it really didn't. It will turn into agree/disagree for a significant amount of people who either don't know or care how voting was intended to work.
You display the problem with that system in your own comment through your wording of "should be". Everyone knows what downvotes and upvotes should be, but due to their intent being unenforceable they just become "that person liked or didn't like this for reasons beyond my knowledge and understanding"
On instances where downvoting is disabled, the button serves no purpose and will now not be displayed unless the instance permits it. The existence or absence of the downvote button is feedback on whether or not posts can be downvoted.
If the button is not displayed then < your particular Lemmy instance > is the one to be accused of going the way of Youtube.
Interestingly though, since you're posting from Lemmy.world, I checked the list and your instance does allow downvoting. Maybe it's a bug for [email protected]
I on voyager 1.2.0 and downvote button appears for me btw.
Yeah, it must be voyager issue. I downloaded Sync today and everything is as it should be.
There is a setting in the general settings panel to show up and down votes on a post, and when I do that the downvote always works for me.
I have only 'mark/hide posts', 'collapse threads' and 'default sort'. I'm on 1.2.0
Sorry, its settings Appearance.
Show voting buttons -is set to true
Display Votes - is set to Separate.
I'm on 1.2.0
Thanks it's not there either, but I just found out that lemmy.world disabled downvotes.
I'm on lemmy.world. This thread is on lemmy.world I have just downvoted you successfully as far as I can see.
That is bizzare!
You say that you found out that lemmy.world had disabled downvotes. Where did you you find that out? I'd certainly seen nothing myself here - I know that some instances have - and can certainly see and use the downvote arrows.
I found out that I can upvote using the big arrow on the right and small arrow on the left (with the count). While the downvote arrow disappeared from the right the small one on the right remained. When I tap that it tells me that administrators disabled it.
Edit: "Downvotes have been disabled by server admins."
Could you explain your edit? My down vote button has also disappeared and I want to know if it is due to voyager or my instance.
The edit is the message that appears when I tap the little downvote arrow on the left that shows how many people downvoted the post/comment. It used to work before.
Lemmy World is a very opinionated instance :)
Yes, I'm not sure if I want to stay on it since it can have opinions and I can only have positive ones.
Does it matter? Who cares about imaginary points?
While one could argue for the usefulness of the downvote button, the very nature of a mostly anonymous platform like Reddit and Lemmy will naturally lead to its misuse, completely negating its usefulness.
It matters that if there's an option to upvote, there should be an option to downvote. Why have only one? What is the point of some instances having just one of them while others have both? I don't care about points but I like to see how controversial something is when I read comments.
Upvotes are not abused and doesn't make people feel like shit.
The lack of upvotes is a much nicer way to handle the situation.
It's similar to real life, where you give compliments to people you like but you try to avoid people you don't like. Focus on what you like, not what you don't like.
Today I commented on something and got 12 upvotes. Clearly, people liked my take. I also got 12 downvotes on the same comment and that provided a reality check - my take is agreeable to some, disagreeable to others. Then of course I have to take into account all the users in all instances that don't allow downvotes. How many people disagree with me that can't let me know without replying? Do I need to rethink my stance on that particular position or should I just double down on it because 12 people liked it?
That's an example of when it's useful, but you probably understand the downsides of it also.
A knife can cut onion, that's an upside. A knife can cut my finger, that's a downside. How do we make a knife that can cut onion but not my finger?
In this case, I don't need the knife. Problem solved.
Sometimes you give up things because of bad side effects you don't want to have.
Maybe you want them, which is fine.
The issue is the bandwagon effect. When a post is downvoted other users will do the same without reading the content or forming their own opinion. Some apps hide heavily downvoted comments like reddit which lead to suppressing some unpopular opinions and discourage people from speaking their mind. Hate speech should be reported and misinformation should be debated with strong arguments
Moderators and users don't always agree on what hate speech is. For example, people often use my mental disability as a pejorative for people they don't like. Half of them claim they weren't really talking about my disability and it's just a coincidence they used the same word. The other half will say they 100% intended to accuse the other person of being disabled. To me, both are unacceptable.
Button works/exists for me. I’m using the default mobile site.
I'm on 1.2 and still have the downvote. Don't know what your settings are.
Do you know where in settings?
Well at the time of writing your post has -2 votes so I'd say it's working!
I'm seeing -4 so clearly.
In the perfect world there would be no stupid downvote button. It makez everything toxic. If you don't like something just ignore it, critisize or block the user
Downvoting on its own is fine, but if you're thinking Reddit then I'd agree. That's because Reddit actively hides shit based on it, though - and also because Reddit is an intensely toxic shithole, of course.