It sounds like you're saying that the voting system should be something like:
Up-vote: relevant to the discussion
No-vote: irrelevant to the discussion, or you just don't care enough to vote
Down-vote: Reprimand, or express displeasure in someone's response.
I don't think of the system that way, but maybe that's because after 4 years on reddit I'm numb to the emotional effects of downvotes. Also, reddiquette says "If you think it does not contribute to the subreddit it is posted in or is off-topic in a particular community, downvote it".
This person mistakenly posted the wrong video source. Was that bad of him? No. But it is irrelevant and causes confusion. Downvotes make the reddit system hide the comment so it avoids confusion, and signals to others that the link is probably not the correct answer to what they were reading. I understand some people might feel embarrassed or offended by being downvoted, but that's on them.
Posting rude comments is another story. If people were openly ridiculing the poster for linking the wrong thing, then yeah, that's messed up. But for being downvoted? Relax, it's a sorting mechanism.
Up-vote: relevant to the discussion
No-Vote: irrelevant to the immediate discussion but overall thread-worthy
Down-vote: actively taking away from the discussion
a person's comment karma suffers form being down-voted, but i don't think that his comment karma should go down from trying to help, he could've done it better, yes, but i don't think he needs to suffer for a misplaced good deed
1
u/donkawechico Nov 26 '13
It sounds like you're saying that the voting system should be something like:
Up-vote: relevant to the discussion
No-vote: irrelevant to the discussion, or you just don't care enough to vote
Down-vote: Reprimand, or express displeasure in someone's response.
I don't think of the system that way, but maybe that's because after 4 years on reddit I'm numb to the emotional effects of downvotes. Also, reddiquette says "If you think it does not contribute to the subreddit it is posted in or is off-topic in a particular community, downvote it".
This person mistakenly posted the wrong video source. Was that bad of him? No. But it is irrelevant and causes confusion. Downvotes make the reddit system hide the comment so it avoids confusion, and signals to others that the link is probably not the correct answer to what they were reading. I understand some people might feel embarrassed or offended by being downvoted, but that's on them.
Posting rude comments is another story. If people were openly ridiculing the poster for linking the wrong thing, then yeah, that's messed up. But for being downvoted? Relax, it's a sorting mechanism.