Recently an online game I play revealed much of their changes for the next patch. For the specific content that I like to interact with, it seems like theres a rather large (and probably not intended) change to this content that is not only a big “nerf”, but also seems to go against the studio’s design philosphy. I’ve made posts and comments talking about it, but the thing I keep running into is people just downvoting what I’m saying into obscurity. I have people interact and with people that are dismissive I iterate exactly why, which very specific information, its not just some small change… and what I get back is a downvote, and really nothing else. I literally upvote everyone that responds, no matter how antagonistic, simply because I want to talk about it and appreciate the interaction, but it seems like people when confronted with information that makes them feel like they had it wrong just reflexively downvote.
Its incredibly infuritating. So yeah, thanks hexbear for doing away with fucking downvotes, this shit seems so toxic and I’m glad I’ve always relegated reddit into mostly a space where I look up relevant info for whatever hobby, or information about products that I need.
Yep, I feel you. Every time I’m on Reddit, I realize just how awful the downvote button is. I remember back when we had one and decided to get rid of it. The catalyst was it being used specifically to silence marginalized people. Looking back at it now, it was clearly the right choice. Having no downvotes hasn’t impacted Hexbear in a negative way in the slightest. Bad arguments that you can ignore - you ignore. Bad arguments you cannot - you reply and dunk. And chuds get dunked on and reported/deleted.
Its was definitely dipshits downvoting threads about trans issues/people/solidarity, I’ve been here from the beginning! I think thats just another very good example of how it just stifles discussion. I remember kind of hating youtube doing away with downvotes but I’ve realized it just makes the importance of people engaging (read: openly rejecting) shitty people go way up and thats probably better (though admittedly discourse in youtube is ass)
I remember the Downvote Days…and getting rid of them was one of the best choices made by a webzone. We wouldn’t have gotten where we are today with down votes. And now that federation is a thing it’s even better cause we get accused of down vote brigading when that’s not even possible.
Nice to meet another fello oldie
On YT, I dunno. I do agree that the dislike button was used to just silence people, which was their stated reason for getting rid of it. But at the same time, it was also used to figure out which videos were just scams or advocating for harmful stuff lol. Oftentimes, you would click on a video looking for a solution to a problem, see the dislikes and realize the video is probably peddling some bs. Now, you don’t have that as neatly - there’s still comments (but they can be removed, and most people don’t comment anyways).
But I agree, discourse on youtube is just ass. There isn’t any good solution.
The way discussion is handled on youtube makes being the first person to say anything paramount, anything else is largely lost in the ether. I’ve thought about commenting on some rancid chud content before but realized its not even going to come close to being seen, all thats there is just gonna be a billion chuds agreeing with each other. Its really up to content creators to address other content creators (and is maybe a good reason more leftists should embrace content creation as a hobby)