Heckler's veto

Mourne

I like knowing who agree with me though. it’s nice to feel validation from a specific source! And I want people to know it is me telling them I agree.

I also wanted people to know it was me when I downvoted tho. I don’t actually like anonymizing things. I think anonymity on the internet tends to make things worse, not better.

And this is why receiving no or few upvotes, is the equivalent to a downvote or generating the feeling that what is posted didn’t matter, was ignored, or was negatively received.

Testament

@sao In the case of downvotes, I’d rather you(general you) just tell me why you disagree, but that might be a me thing. In that instance, downvote just feels impersonal.

Herja

I don’t like the idea of downvotes and I like the idea of anonymous downvotes even less. If someone disagrees with me, I want to know what they disagree with. I think anonymous downvotes invite trouble.

Meg

@Testament I agree.

Third Eye

@sao said in Heckler's veto:

I also wanted people to know it was me when I downvoted tho. I don’t actually like anonymizing things. I think anonymity on the internet tends to make things worse, not better.

I mean, I was perfectly happy that people knew I downvoted them, but this is a personality thing that has umm pros and cons lol. And anyway I don’t think any serious discussion is being had about bringing them back in any form (though I could be wrong).

Which is how I view anonymity, really. I think it can be very toxic because part of what it does is remove some inhibitions about how you’re responding to people, some of which leads to very bad behavior but some of which can also be productive in terms of shaking up whether you’re responding to the person as you know them or the person’s opinion, which aren’t always the same. Ultimately this isn’t an anonymous environment, for some of us more than others but I never engage with it with any particular anonymity. Within my post history I always have to own what I say. I’m also not someone who terribly cares about what form upvotes take or even if they go away, it’s just annoying when somebody goes through psychological yoga to read motives onto a click that don’t exist.

Testament

If downvotes have served any purpose, is that once, on a different forum, not here or MSB, downvotes were visible and after downvoting about a topic, that person reached out to me to just ask why. This delved into a rather lengthy discussion that we both came out of it for the better. Now, do I expect this in every situation? No, but it did help me take the stance of “If you disagree with me or don’t like me, I’d like to know why.” as I’ve become a large proponent of open communication when that communication is viable. Not everyone will, and that’s fine.

That said, I doubt I’d want downvotes back in any kind of capacity, as despite my few good instances that were caused by them, overall I don’t believe they’re worth it.

shit-piss-love

Another vote for no downvotes please. I think Just Upvotes works really well for this community where people are very willing to spell out in no uncertain terms what they don’t like if they see it.

sao

Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to start a discussion of downvotes as like an actual potential thing happening. I was just talking abt the anonymizing thing and wandered off into the weeds.

shit-piss-love

@sao said in Heckler's veto:

Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to start a discussion of downvotes as like an actual potential thing happening. I was just talking abt the anonymizing thing and wandered off into the weeds.

All good, fam. I was just piling on to get ahead of it. I like (in theory, there have not been any serious disagreements in the short time I’ve been here) that this community is willing to speak up when they see something they don’t like. But downvotes to me are the equivalent of throwing rotten vegetables at the stage.

Pyrephox

Back in THE DAY, before social media with upvotes or downvotes, there was Usenet.

And one of the things that came out of those days was the rueful acknowledgement of the Usenet Nod, which was basically that no one responded to your post. Because if they thought you were WRONG, you’d fucking hear about it (at length), but most people, if they see a post that they mildly agree with, then they’re just going to nod at their computer and move on to the next post. They’re not going to go out of their way to respond.

If we did away with upvotes, there would just be silence after a lot of very good posts, because people would just Usenet Nod, and spend their energy telling that other asshole over there that they are wrong on the internet. Likewise, most posts that don’t have a lot of upvotes aren’t disliked, they’re just nodded at and moved on from. So, when at all possible, just imagine that most of the forum goers, if they aren’t currently calling you names or telling you where they think you screwed up, are reading your post, smiling, nodding, and then moving on to the next post.

Testament

If we got away from upvotes I’d be just fine with a litany of gif responses. Not that I don’t already do that.

Duke Whisky

Agree

Best I agree gif.

hellfrog

@dvoraen said in Heckler's veto:

@Meg I don’t envy your direct message inbox.

(psst @hellfrog – live up to your name and give @Meg hell for not having 100% upvote rate from her)

i have given her hell by making the two posts she won’t upvote

hellfrog

@Testament said in Heckler's veto:

If downvotes have served any purpose, is that once, on a different not here or MSB, downvotes were visible and after downvoting about a topic, that person reached out to me to just ask why. This delved into a rather lengthy discussion that we both came out of it for the better. Now, do I expect this in every situation? No, but it did help me take the stance of “If you disagree with me or don’t like me, I’d like to know why.” as I’ve become a large proponent of open communication when that communication is viable. Not everyone will, and that’s fine.

you are saying this like this situation is a good outcome! this is so foreign to my way of thinking, lol

i think if you contact me personally and privately for any reason you should go to jail

I’m kidding. Sort of.

Testament

@hellfrog For sure, that is an absolutely fair response. But it was a conversation meant in earnestness, so I didn’t mind having it. Besides, I respected that person’s willingness to ask straight up. Not everyone one is, and that’s fine too. But I will say it was an odd situation that ended turning up good simply out of the mutual respect that was offered.

Solstice

@junipersky said in Heckler's veto:

Who are these people with TIME to see who upvoted what?!

I’ll cop to this, but only in the context of the waning days of Derp’s power trip. Was mega disheartening to be facing down silence, and see most of the staff there instantly upvoting some garbage takes.

On that note: I think the only real thing I have to say on this one is that there’s a very real thing in human behavior about momentum. When we see a post with zero upvotes, some people might pause before delivering that first upvote.

It’s like taking the last appetizer at a group dinner. Several people might want to, but they don’t want to be the first one to reach for the last jalapeno popper.

Downvotes would indeed suck. Of everything in here so far, huge agree to variety of different reaction possibilities. It’s one of the things I love about Discord.

eye8urcake

@Solstice said in Heckler's veto:

@junipersky said in Heckler's veto:

Who are these people with TIME to see who upvoted what?!

I’ll cop to this, but only in the context of the waning days of Derp’s power trip. Was mega disheartening to be facing down silence, and see most of the staff there instantly upvoting some garbage takes.

On that note: I think the only real thing I have to say on this one is that there’s a very real thing in human behavior about momentum. When we see a post with zero upvotes, some people might pause before delivering that first upvote.

It’s like taking the last appetizer at a group dinner. Several people might want to, but they don’t want to be the first one to reach for the last jalapeno popper.

Downvotes would indeed suck. Of everything in here so far, huge agree to variety of different reaction possibilities. It’s one of the things I love about Discord.

I would be very happy to have ‘cat’ or ‘scream’ or ‘carrot’ as a response to posts here, as additions to ‘upvote’, for sure for sure.

sao

@eye8urcake carrot is a very important point to be able to make

TNP

Would it be possible to make upvotes only visible or only send a notification to the one getting the upvote? That would prevent a million ‘me too’ posts while still letting the person who posted know they’ve got people in their corner.

Meg

@TNP I mean, yeah, but someone would have to build that plug in.

But the information is available and you could hook into it.

If you wanted.