I tend to upvote a post when it Links an interesting article or provokes an interesting conversation, and only downvote them when they voice an convectively bad opinion (like, bigotry or other unjustified vitriol).
I tend to upvote comments when they make a good point or at least try to support their argument, and only downvote them for the same reason as posts: when they are trolling, being unnecessarily aggressive, or trying to justify bigotry with fallacious reasoning or something
What about you?
I try to reserve downvotes for bad faith commenters, though I downvoted some of the ai generated jeans spammers too when that started to get real old.
…AI generated jeans spammers? What did I miss?
Sorry. I posted one because I couldn’t beat them, so I joined them.
- Up - I want you to be encouraged and continue in the discussion
- Down - Your being disruptive, rude, off-topics, combative, and the conversation is suffering because of you.
Sounds like a more concise description of my same strategy, yeah.
Memes: upvote if I find it funny
Text posts:
- upvote if agree
- do nothing if disagree, but the post is valid
- downvote if OP is trolling, or rude, or otherwise makes me uncomfortable
But, there are exceptions
What about comments?
Similar theory. That’s usually how I find out a poster is trolling. I ask for clarification and they double down on their original post
Upvote what I like, ignore what I don’t but it’s presented in good faith, downvote otherwise.
for posts:
- is spam? downvote. report if I am not on the best of days.
- is the post trying to follow the “let’s be awesome to each other” tenet? upvote.
for comments:
- do I agree or like it? no bearing.
- does it relate to the post, or expands on the info and encourages dialog? upvote.
Somebody replies to a thread I made? - up vote.
Somebody replies to a comment I made? - up vote.
Somebody makes a post interesting enough for me to comment? Up vote + all other comments upvoted.Ignorance or bad info? Downvote.
I only downvote when someone is being an unreasonable asshole. It’s ok to have a different opinion and state it respectfully. Otherwise I sprinkle updoots like fairy dust.
Parallel to the join-lemmy.org documentation (see below) I upvote what I want to see more of, and downvote what I want to see less of.
“You can upvote posts that you like so that more users will see them. Or downvote posts so that they are less likely to be seen.” ~ https://join-lemmy.org/docs/users/03-votes-and-ranking.html
Yeah, but how do you qualify that?
Funny? Up. Useful? Up. Asshole? Down. Bonus: cats/bats/art, up.
Easy.
Ah, I suppose I can be a bit more specific about my process.
Posts: upvote if I care/liked it, downvote if I don’t care about the post so I will hopefully see more of what I care about, and less of what I could careless about.
Comments: upvote those that add value, and really only downvote those that specifically subtract value (mostly when people are being jerks)
Upvote if it contributed to the discussion, whether I agree or disagree, whether serious or humorous.
Downvote if it’s off-topic, misinformation, belligerent, or a link to a video without a text summary. Downvote if the user did not respond cogently to the comment or post. Downvote bad advice, and bigotry, and anyone who miscorrects “octopusses” to “octopi”.
No vote if the comment is banal or I can’t understand the point they’re trying to make.
Um, I think you mean octopodes.
Fun fact, there’s a Wikipedia article that comes up for “plurals of words ending in -us” with a section jus for octopus.
No one corrects “octopodes” to “octopi” and if they did I’d have to assume it was sarcastic.
But yeah, like any self-respecting Classicist I obviously upvote correcting “octopusses” to “octopodes”. That’s just common sense!
Scandalously
If I see a post and I want to see more posts like that in that community, I updoot. If I want to see less posts like that in that community, I downvote. Nothing more complicated than that.
So if you post a cute cat pic to a community about cats or cute things, I’m updooting it. Not even super concerned with how well I looked that specific pic, I want to see cute cat pics there and you provided one so you get the updoot.
But if I’m in a discussion-based community and you post something with a clickbait title, I downvote. Doesn’t matter if you’re technically still on topic, I want to see less of that nonsense so I downvote it.
Do you have a clear way of defining “clickbait” or is it just vibes?
If there’s a community I want to support I generally go in and upvote every comment on every post. Unless it’s mean, then it gets a downvote or a removal if it’s bad enough and breaks the rules and it’s in a community I mod and have god-like powers in.
I try to upvote anyone that responds to me, even if they disagree with me, or I with them. It feels petty not to.
I don’t downvote much. My upvotes vary depending on how drunk I am and what I’m drinking.
I upvote when a post is helpful, funny, entertaining, or if I just want to let the poster know that their post was acknowledged . I rarely downvote, mostly reserved for trolls and unprovoked rudeness.
For posts, it comes down to whether or not it fits the community. In /c/UnpopularOpinion, your opinion had better be unpopular. In /c/Funny…well, bad example. 😆
