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I'm all for a voting system, but if those votes have consequences, then I agree voting should be regulated to avoid large groups forcing their viewpoints on others. Also, if votes come with consequences besides that of people seeing your vote counts then I wouldn't call it speech.

I'm all for a voting system, but if those votes have consequences, then I agree voting should be regulated to avoid large groups forcing their viewpoints on others.

Also, if votes come with consequences besides that of people seeing your vote counts then I wouldn't call it speech.

Yes
No
Maybe
Fuck You!

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[–] • 1 pt

Yea I see what you're saying.

I'm really trying to argue that if your upvotes and downvotes are not simply you expressing your opinion, but are actually mechanisms for getting people banned, or shadowbanned or whatever, then you should not really say regulation of it is anti-free speech

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

I agree with you.

As for a good solution, it honestly is a bit of a conundrum. It definitely gives an metric for people's opinions, which is a form of speech. The problem is giving it more power than that, and the quickly becomes a complex discussion.

But given Poal's stated view on the proper use of the downvote, I don't see why they don't just get rid of it and replace it with a Report Spam button. As it is it appears to serve no other purpose than to punish downvoters if the admin (or his algorithm) doesn't agree a post is spam. It has the feel of a risk/reward strategy for teaching an obedient dog.

[edit: also this discussion caused me to vote Maybe, since it is a complex subject, hard to resolve with a yes/no vote]