Comment · Tue, June 24, 2014 · Ceretropic
This subreddit is starting to be a different place
Original post in this thread
FW900 · 114 points
This is my favorite subreddit and one of the only ones I post on.
Don't get me wrong, new members are a great thing. However, it seems as though many are typical redditors, who see something and automatically slap an up or down vote to it based on if like it or not. A lot reputable posters like EnLilaSko, were downvoted in the recent thread about James Oliver speaking on supplements because they were critical of the video. It seems as though the typical redditor, rather than the nootropics enthusiast was quick to downvote without an understanding of what was even being discussed.
I'm not a moderator and I'm not sure if a post like this will be allowed but upvotes and downvotes on this subreddit used to be based on two things (stated when you hover your mouse over them):
Upvote: "Solid Science"
Downvote: "Inappropriate Content"
I wish people would keep these in mind so important posts do not go unseen based on random redditors being offended by them.
What they were answering
dream234 · 1 points
What do people think about having a custom subreddit style that hides the downvote button?
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
That does not really solve the problem. Down-voting is a useful tool in a lot of cases. It gives people an idea of whether or not a comment is correct. However, for that to work properly, the audience has to be informed and knowledgeable. If they are not, people just jump on the down-vote bandwagon without thinking. That is why this post was made. People started down-voting someone who was bringing up valid and relevant points. People were suggesting that is due to the new influx of people, who may not really know what they are talking about, but choose to down-vote anyway.
The only solution to this is for people to take a hard look at their voting reasonings. If you are not sure you are an expert on whatever someone is saying, then do not downvote. If you are confident that you understand the concepts, and you see a misleading or incorrect statement, then by all means down-vote. However, if nobody has replied to that person as to why their comment is misleading, then the conversation goes nowhere.
I honestly liked the fact that we used to be able to see the up/down-vote tallies. In a small subreddit like this, it really gives an idea about public sentiment to certain things. It also gave us the possibility to have posts where people can vote for things. Taking that away from us was a serious mistake for Reddit, in my opinion.