[–] Crisco_McFlow 0 points 20 points 20 points (+20|-0) ago
Most definitely. Opinions/statements that are hated are usually the most interesting.
[–] Dalai_Llama 0 points 14 points 14 points (+14|-0) ago
I don't think the down voats silence anyone inappropriately because they are the first comments I like to look at. Judging by the other responses in this thread, this is not a peculiar consideration. The people that are truly being silenced are those with middling comments. Anything other than the extremes seems to be invariably overlooked.
[–] Dalai_Llama 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago
Fair point. Fucking spam has to ruin everything. If there was just some alternate means of spam control this could be avoided.
[–] [deleted] 0 points 8 points 8 points (+8|-0) ago
[–] Gorillion 1 point 3 points 4 points (+4|-1) ago
Same. LOL.
I haven't really witnessed any shameful levels of "silencing" of an actual valid viewpoint. It's always some shill getting his shit pushed in that picks up the heavy downvoats.
I think it's fine if someone gets a "gentle twatting" from downvoaters if they're pushing a controversial line or being bad at making their point. I don't care about your "alternate viewpoints" shit. That's just code people use when they get pissed off their ideas aren't gaining traction. I'm not going to artificially buoy your poorly framed or poorly timed arguments for visibility, unless I find them interesting in the given moment or they're pissing somebody else off in an entertaining fashion.
[–] [deleted] 2 points 3 points 5 points (+5|-2) ago (edited ago)
[–] GoofyGrape 0 points 43 points 43 points (+43|-0) ago
Yes, I almost always look at heavily downvoated comments, unless it's just a back and forth rant between two people.
If I feel a downvoated comment really adds to a discussion and isn't just false information, I usually give an upvoat even if I don't agree with the comment.
[–] WhiteRonin 0 points 15 points 15 points (+15|-0) ago
I follow this same policy.
[–] 7642485? 0 points 8 points 8 points (+8|-0) ago
For sure, especially because I've been on the downvoat end before.
[–] DiscontentedMajority 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
I always look at the downvoted comments, but I rarely upvote them because I generally find them to be things that should have been downvoted, like spam or something that adds nothing to the discussion.
[–] GoofyGrape 1 point -1 points 0 points (+0|-1) ago
Same. I upvoat heavily downvoated comments less than 10% of the time.