• Tanis Nikana@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I’m downvoting you just to use the button. I leave it there cause it’s a good sanity check, make sure I didn’t say something off the rails. But sometimes seeing a comment I made get something like 135/1 really makes me wonder what the 136th dentist thinks.

      • slazer2au@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I also use the vote buttons as a kind of ‘I seen this’ system as the read post doesn’t work the same way on all clients.

    • Sarah Valentine (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      It’s a social media site. If you “disagree” solely by hitting a “i don’t like this” button then you’re part of the problem. Use your words. Real cowardice is downvoting things you disagree with, without having to make the case for why or do any kind of critical thinking about your own position.

      For example: I disagree with you, but I have expressed it through the above argument rather than with a petty, silent downvote.

      • ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I don’t have time to write a rebuttal to every mouthpiece with an opinion. Down voting is a quick way to disagree.

            • Sarah Valentine (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              2 months ago

              You’ve responded to my every comment so far. Seems like you’re the one who doesn’t know how language works because you think you can tell other people how to use it.

              Which is fine, because not only do I know how language works, I know how the block feature works too. Now get lost, troll.

              • KingOfTheCouch@lemmy.ca
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                2 months ago

                Wow. You complained about a petty downvote, then responded with an insult and “I’m going to block you”. Incredible cognitive dissonance here. If a silent downvote was petty, what else could be more petty?

                And just to drive home my point, I’m also going to block *you *after I post this!

                Conversation is such a fucking waste of time in this place.

              • SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works
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                2 months ago

                While I agree with most of your comments in this post, performative blocking reminds me of why I stopped using Mastodon much: so many grandstanding block proclamations over there, which just increases general toxicity with ego and spite.

      • MrQuallzin@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        You’re standing on a soap box on the street corner. My downvote is me frowning, shaking my head in disappointment, and walking away.

        • Sarah Valentine (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          2 months ago

          While I long for the day when a place like lemmy becomes populous enough for it to be a fair comparison, as it stands I’d say commenting on lemmy threads is a far, far cry from irl public soapboxing. It’s more like standing up in the corner of the beatnik bar and quietly booing the poet.

      • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Nah, down voting has a purpose that’s totally uncoupled from that.

        It changes visibility in some sorting methods. This can serve as a way to filter out bad actors, bad actors trolling, and outright nutters.

        It also serves as a partial safety valve. A lot of assholes are lazy assholes, and having them able to vote without interacting further is a very good thing.

        Besides, nobody is obligated to engage at any specific level. Voting is a perfectly valid tier of interaction all its own.