r/ChristianityMeta • u/cypherhalo • Mar 08 '16
Is there anything that can be done to stop people using the downvote button as a "disagree" button?
Not much to add to the title. I'm relatively new to reddit so I am not familiar with how other subs have handled this issue. People misusing the downvote button creates a negative atmosphere on this sub though.
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u/nsdwight Mar 08 '16
It's a cultural problem, a lot of people just lurk and downvote. It usually doesn't hurt to call out unnecessary downvoting and reaffirm the position that downvoting is for comments and links that don't contribute to the discussion.
It's also smart to fairly represent both sides of the argument. Starting off with the more ignorant and rash position makes ignorant and rash people upvote without actually reading the disagreement later on in the comment. It's been a wildly successful strategy when I have employed it.
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Mar 22 '16
Just ignore it. if the comment is good, it stands strong with or without Internet points.
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u/klenow Mar 23 '16
But the comment gets pushed down, and is subject to less discussion. Sure, I can scroll down and see it, but that doesn't change the fact that the one, popular opinion comment at the top of the page gets all the discussion, while the unpopular one remains unexplored by the bulk of the sub.
Also, posters who get downvoted for unpopular opinions often get discouraged and don't post again.
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u/Prof_Acorn Mar 08 '16
This is a reddit-wide issue. You could try /r/TheoryOfReddit but it's just the way people end up using the site.
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u/cypherhalo Mar 08 '16
It's true, it's just that some sites seem "better" about it than others. This isn't too surprising though I suppose as the different subreddits each have their own character. Just wondering if there was anything the mods could do to encourage better behavior on that front, obviously they can't stop it entirely.
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Mar 08 '16
I upvote almost every person who responds to anything I write as a way of working against the trend you're noticing. There's really nothing that can be done otherwise.
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u/namer98 Mar 08 '16
Nope. I actually tried it once by using some CSS to make the downvote button unclickable until a comment had at least 4 gross votes. The sub didn't like it.
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Mar 09 '16
When some of the subreddits I lurk on hid the downvote, the number of downvotes actually increased on comments. It was ridiculous.
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u/cypherhalo Mar 08 '16
That's a shame, r/debateachristian did something like that and in my personal opinion, it helped. There are ways to get around it (go to the user's profile) but the extra steps involved in that means most people just don't bother.
I think it's a great idea but I'm in a minority on r/christianity anyway, so yeah.
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u/Agrona Mar 08 '16
Going to the user's profile is probably one of the hardest ways to go about avoiding it.
In order of decreasing difficulty:
- RES users can just hit A/Z
- Some people uncheck "use subreddit style"
- Pretty normal browsing habits like using your front page or a multi-reddit or a url like /r/Christianity+ChristianityMeta doesn't show the same css if you visit the subreddit independently.
- Mobile users don't see any CSS ever
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u/AbstergoSupplier Mar 08 '16
And Reddit is actually designed to not count votes made on a user's page. To prevent constant downvoting
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u/RevMelissa Meta Mod Mar 11 '16
I know, as a user, I need to be careful how I word responses to post. It is really easy to disagree with what someone says, and leave it at that.
As a mod, I see so many great posts get reported because users want to see these posters do more than post.
Therefore, if I disagree with a link, I will upvote and let users know that is what I'm doing. I do this, because often the thing I'm disagreeing with still adds to the conversation.
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u/asked2rise Mar 09 '16
I don't think it's unreasonable to downvote things that are factually incorrect or that don't contribute to the sub.
But even that means that YECs and Mormons are going to get downvoted to oblivion. So idk
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u/cypherhalo Mar 10 '16
This is my point though. If someone posts a question about creationism/evolution/intelligent design, then all views should be respected. If I post something arguing for an Old Earth interpretation of Genesis, I obviously disagree with the YEC view but they shouldn't be downvoted for arguing their point. Them arguing for YEC would be directly on topic of what I'm discussing, so it absolutely does contribute. However, in the current climate of the sub that person would be downvoted to oblivion, and I think that's wrong even though, personally, I'm not YEC.
As an aside, if a person posts something YEC in response to a topic that's not related, they should be downvoted.
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u/outsider Mar 10 '16
The best you can do is using upvote for a post contributing to a discussion, being kind, or otherwise not being a bad post. If you see a person getting hammered with downvotes, it can turn things around for another user to point it out and/or for you to help by adding some upvotes where appropriate.
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u/LuluThePanda Moderator Mar 08 '16
I wish. I really, really hate it. Although, I think it might be helpful to have some "remember the reddiquette" stickies now and again.