I used to downvote fairly often on Reddit as a sign to disagree or to push down really disgusting bigoted comments. And to be honest, it became a habit to just downvote without replying. However, now that I’m on lemmy and not Reddit I’ve been actively trying to not instantly downvote things and instead move on or take the time to reply. Has anyone else been trying to do this?
Hard disagree. Down votes shouldn’t be disabled, and I’m disappointed that Beehaw has chosen to do this.
What about comments that give dangerous advice to an unknowing audience?
That’s one good reason for down votes. People may upvote it not knowing any better, and when someone comes along to correct them, the damage is done. Other knowledgeable people can’t downvote it to make sure that dangerous advice gets pushed to the bottom, they just have to hope those that upvoted come back, see the rest of the discussion, and remove their upvote.
No, you should reply and explain why the advice is dangerous. A comment might be downvoted for all sorts of reasons and so it doesn’t send a clear message. Downvoting is like grounding your kids just because you are angry, without explaining what they did wrong. They will just conclude you are an arsehole that will punish them whenever you fancy. Which is exactly my opinion of redditors and why I stopped posting there.