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So over the past few days I have noticed and involved in a bit of drama with people using the downvote button as and I don't like you button or an I disagree button. This really saddens me. I don't like seeing it. I think the downvote button should be for spam or things that are irrelevant. Thats what I think we should use it for. If you disagree make an argument. If you just hate a user why not ignore them or even block them. Please don't try to censor them. Everyone here deserves to have free speech. Even the people you don't like. Even the people you disagree with. Without free speech, what do we have? Without it we have fallen. I don't accept that we have fallen. I think we have ascended to a point where everyone has a voice. No matter what their opinion. The free market of ideas will show what are the best ideas. Don't let yourself fall into the habit of trying to censor ideas you don't like your arguments will do that better than any vote could.

So over the past few days I have noticed and involved in a bit of drama with people using the downvote button as and I don't like you button or an I disagree button. This really saddens me. I don't like seeing it. I think the downvote button should be for spam or things that are irrelevant. Thats what I think we should use it for. If you disagree make an argument. If you just hate a user why not ignore them or even block them. Please don't try to censor them. Everyone here deserves to have free speech. Even the people you don't like. Even the people you disagree with. Without free speech, what do we have? Without it we have fallen. I don't accept that we have fallen. I think we have ascended to a point where everyone has a voice. No matter what their opinion. The free market of ideas will show what are the best ideas. Don't let yourself fall into the habit of trying to censor ideas you don't like your arguments will do that better than any vote could.

(post is archived)

[–] [deleted] 8 pts

I could argue the downvoting is a form of free speech. Beatlejuice was here earlier calling a user a pedophile and slandering him in posts. Should we argue with a miserable person who thrives on drama andnhas no compunctions about lying? You could get rid of the down vote button. Hell you could implement a system that pushes most commented posts to the top. All system can and will be abused. We have been conditioned by many sites before this to use up as agree/like down as disagree/dislike. Blocking a sub/person is also a free speech block, it takes away your ability to hear something you disagree with. You should make a site sticky for suggestions on a a better alternative to up/down voting.

[–] 5 pts

Anyone who posts the 1990, Paul Simon mang, pics of assholes bs 20 times a day should (at least) be downvoted. No point in giving them any attention.

Honestly if Pmyb2 is going to try the appeasement route with them I might as well hang out on voat... oh wait putt did that and now even he hates his site as much as me.

[–] 4 pts

I could argue the downvoting is a form of free speech. Beatlejuice was here earlier calling a user a pedophile and slandering him in posts.

This is what I use down votes for.

Mostly.

[–] 3 pts

Honestly the solution has to involve people. It has to be people like you and me that make it work. We can rely on admins or mods to get rid of toxic influences or we can argue against them. I can't fix it as much as I wish I could. The only way the SRS problem here gets fixed if there even is an SRS problem. Is if people like you make the arguments against them. Arguments are what decides the fate of the site. Left vs Right. SJW vs Alt right. these are the arguments that decide the truth. Its all in you the users hands.

[–] [deleted] 4 pts

That works on a small site where people know one another by username and posts. It fails as a site gets larger and you can create false consensus. Most people don't want to hear both sides because we are so damn sure we are right. On dakon I down voted beatlejuice for calling another poster a pedophile and his few other bullshit posts. Am I supposed to waste time arguing with someone like that? I agree with you in spirit and mostly in practice but some people just aren't worth arguing with

[–] 4 pts

Another problem is burn out trying to point out that someone is a shill every single time. Trying to form a well worded and logical response to how they are shilling. Then your reply getting zero attention, just because it is too long to read.

I remember on Voat, when SBBH and SDBH came around, people were saying that it was SRS shitting up the place. Sure enough I didn't read it, didn't really notice the issue till half a year ago.

Because of the issue, some of some of the most dedicated and content creating users walked away from the platform. Leaving Voat a cesspool, without logical discourse, mindlessly sucking off everything that was a confimation bias.

If I see SRS here, I will downvote them. They are not here to create thought provoking discourse. Only to forum slide and gas-light all over the site.

[–] 3 pts

Honestly. I would say yes waste you’re time on the argument. Becuase when other people look at it it isn’t a waste of time. Sure it might not get a lot of people thinking but even if it gets one isn’t it worth it? If you can change one persons mind and wake them up to reality haven’t you succeeded? I haven’t seen the behavior from beetle you have a problem with and honestly I’m glad I haven’t I don’t need anymore enemies I have plenty. However if you could just blow a argument out of the water you win right? I think above all things argument wins.

[–] 8 pts

Give us a new button , a fuck you button that has no real Merritt to it just a counter

[–] 5 pts

This is not actually a bad idea.

[–] 5 pts

We can even vote on what to call it. My submission is "Fuck Off, Faggot."

[–] 4 pts

I like this idea a lot, @AOU what do you think?

[–] 0 pt

look how @jsac and crew are dowmvoting me.

I wanna participate here j but fuck that pedo bitch @jsac

[–] 0 pt

go back to voat dick breath. no one wants u and your shitposting faggot crew here... the downvotes speak volumes....

[–] 6 pts

Not saying I disagree but question:

How does a downvote limit or censor free speech? Even if I get 1000 downvotes and no upvotes, I am still able to say what I want.

I ask this since if/when this site gets a lot bigger, there will really be no way to police how people use downvotes. You'll be in the whack-a-mole business.

If you think a downvote is free speech inhibiting, why not disable it altogether and add in "report spam / it's irrelevant" buttons? Those buttons would then notify the moderator to review the post or comment if it is SPAM / trolling / brigading etc...

[–] 4 pts

you have a point. I'm not sure what to do with it but you have a point.

[–] 3 pts

That's why I brought it up. The topics like that discussed here were all discussed on Voat before the big migrations. I remember I even had a sub dedicated to keeping tabs on the trolls/spammers (before protect voat). That was great when it was small. When the hordes came, it was all bets off though as they brought folks like sanegoat, amalek and empireofthemind etc. Even before the paid shills.

One thing I think Voat did right was the janitor role. If that had been coupled with a better flagging system (like I kinda went into) I think it had a shot at succeeding. And I think it did for a while. But ultimately the lack of admin leadership just killed every good initiative over there. Like the whole subverse transfer drama. moe (young girl anime weirdo) did it for a while but when he left, no one picked it up.

Same with cynabuns doing the janitor role for system subs. When she (they) disappeared, no one stepped up. I don't think anyone could step up with MIA admins.

Lots and lots of good lessons to learn from the growth and ongoing demise of Voat.

[–] 3 pts

agreed. Lots of lessons to learn. The same will not happen here.

[–] 3 pts

Putt killed our (as spam janitors) momentum by ignoring our calls for help. That’s why voat is what it is today.

[–] 3 pts

Per your last paragraph, wouldn't that consolidate a lot of power in just one (or more) persons hands? It would be the opposite of community desires. I would think having all users involved rather than limiting it to just a few people, who can manipulate and coordinate with selected friends. I'm not able to offer the solution, just some thoughts.

[–] 1 pt

Not necessarily if setup correctly.

Example:

Have similar to janitor role here. Can only delete items that have been flagged by say more than 1 user. Deleted items go into publicly viewable log of deletions. Cannot mark something themselves then delete it. Of course someone could create multiple accounts, but if / when that type of activity was identified, then an active admin steps in and removes the janitor role. I would not call it a janitor role either. What a shitty degrading name for an important role. How about "Thankless Savior of Poal" or similar?

With the community vigilant then we should be looking at two people needing to review something before it's deleted. Go a step further and add an admin queue into that. Flagged by user / flagged by Savior / ultimately deleted by admin. That would be a great idea for the Savior trial period to make sure they are legit.

[–] 1 pt

That sounds like a possible solution. Obviously this is a problem with most sites. Putt has wrestled with this kind of user control for months. It was discussed with a lot of people on the preview site and seems to be quite more involved than one might think. It will take more discussion here to develop what will work on this site.

[–] 1 pt

To illustrate further. And yes, I know this would mean a shit ton of code and logic....

Now it has "permalink reply source" at the bottom. You could add "spam irrelevant". Clicking spam or irrelevant flags that post into either the spam or irrelevant queue for the Savior. Savior then reviews his/her queues to see if said posts / comments are violations Poals rule or TOS. If so, they then flag for admin. Then admin reviews and ultimately decides if the post stays or goes. Add in 1 more role for Sub admin or something that is an unsupervised savior. One who has proven themselves to be fair and legit. Then the queue no longer passes through admin. That would be a viable setup for future growth when admins are too busy to review every flagged post.

[–] 5 pts

Agreed. Downvotes are for pussies

[–] 4 pts

I DISAGREEEEEE!

*downvotes post*

[–] 5 pts

And your mother was a whore. Thank you Trebek.

[–] 3 pts

I wholeheartedly agree with you. The downvote button should not be used for disagreeing. Disagree by making a comment.

[–] 3 pts

What if only upvotes were used to determine post visibility and downvotes were visible but didn't count for anything?

[–] [deleted] 3 pts

I am personally not a fan of voting in forums.

It allows for groups of people to push a topic and hides those they disagree with. It always turns into a who's who. Or and echo chamber.

I also am not a fan of the old school forum style of "Bump" to keep a topic on top.

Should posts be rated on Views? I don't know. I do not have the answers... only opinions on things I don't like.

[+] [deleted] 2 pts
[–] 1 pt

Why not just remove the downvote entirely? Have a pure upvote determine popularity.

[–] 1 pt

In the case of the abused vote buttons I suggest the simplest approach is best. Any system is going to be abused. You could spend a year crafting an ingenious system, and it'll be gamed.

But, here are some random thoughts on these systems.

Users should accrue no points, at all period. A submission or thread within would still rise or sink depending on votes. But the submitter would get no points for submitting, nor commenters commenting. This kills the point farmers.

I also sort of like the idea that views and activity should also be accounted for. If thread A is viewed 10 times but no one comments vs thread B being viewed 10 times and has 5 comments, B should rise above A. Thread B has more activity.

But in the end I don't think theres a way to solve this issue. Points will be farmed, the DV button will be used to dislike someone.

People will be people, especially in large groups where popularity is a driver.

I don't think I'm making a coherent overall point. I don't think there is a good solution.

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