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[–] water_and_shade 0 points 9 points (+9|-0) ago 

Good point? Is this v/circlejerk? At least we know this post won't be downvoated into oblivion...

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[–] Marine 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

Is this question directed for everyone or specific people? Why not just address the specific people that made you write this post?

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[–] tiecuando ago 

This was in the back of my head as well. Who is this topic addressing?

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[–] CowboyXero 0 points 8 points (+8|-0) ago 

Problem with that is, no matter what the rules are, no one is ever asked to defend their reasons for downvoating. It's a disagree button one way or the other and many others feel the same. Next Confederate Flag Walmart Removal post I see I'll reply and watch...

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[–] flamero 0 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago 

Problem with people using downvoat as a disagree button is that it stifles real discussion by hiding opinions that go against the grain. What you're left with is just a circlejerking echochamber where the hivemind keeps patting themselves on the back.

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[–] CowboyXero 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

You're absolutely right but there are people in this world who are just jerks who can't handle fact when it hits them in the face. Their only act of defiance is that downvote because they know it will hurt you. I see a ton of stuff on Voat and Criticl that I vehemently disagree with but my take on it is the same as with dealing with people in general. Take a deep breath, remind myself I don't look good in prison orange, smile at that dumb fuck and walk the hell away with my headphones on.

Some do not share that philosophy and their lives are so empty they must hit that button. If I ever downvote something, I will say exactly why I did it and it will be in plain English.

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[–] Piranha 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

But removal of the downvote button wouldn't solve this issue. If we would just ignore the opinions we don't agree with they will just disappear down at the site as do downvoted now.

As much as a downvote should be used to mark useless comments an upvote should be rewarded to useful comments. Both buttons are misused as disagree or agree buttons.

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[–] coinslists 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

What if downvotes required intelligent comments relevant to the post title? http://imgur.com/c62wx9Q

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[–] immibis 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

BTW, that image is not valuable content.

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[–] CowboyXero ago 

I would actually have no problem with that but, again, it's unenforceable due largely to the fact that there are people out there who will downvote and post something like, "this was just stupid" as their "intelligent" response.

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[–] twavisdegwet 2 points 9 points (+11|-2) ago 

I just want to lurk and silently shame my peers. Is that too much to ask!?

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[–] TwilightShadow1 0 points 7 points (+7|-0) ago 

Yes. *Pushes under the spotlight*

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[–] DjangoRed 6 points 59 points (+65|-6) ago 

Downvotes should be used for spam or shitty effort. It's disingenuous to say that the community's wisdom shines through the dispensing of upvotes and downvotes. Downvotes are the lazy fucks way of expressing disagreement and are almost always used as such, moreso as voat has grown.

The reddit hivemind is just plain wrong about so many things. I had to write literal five paragraph essays if I went against the reddit hivemind and I wanted to have the "community" on my side. Fuck that. As voat grows, the same thing will happen.

I shouldn't have to continuously apologize for possibly offending people, so people don't shutdown when reading my comment and going into autodownvote mode. I shouldn't have to explicitly state if I'm playing devil's advocate or if something is not my personal views.

I stopped commenting on the majority of reddit because the noise was so bad. If I did feel so compelled to leave a comment, I stuck to a stream of thought style of commenting. I just wrote whatever came to mind and posted. No proofreads. No rewrites. Any more effort was not worth the time spent.

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[–] laceface 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

I find myself migrating to smaller and smaller subreddits with a small community (subs related to my job, specific games, etc) and I like it more. I'm still giving voat a try because if this can be a place where I'll be heard everywhere, I'm all for it.

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[–] jeegte12 0 points 7 points (+7|-0) ago 

i've been saying this for years: the more people added to something, the worse it becomes. no one seems to agree with it, yet people always bitch about stuff directly related to the number of people involved.

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[–] big_fat_dangus [S] 2 points 23 points (+25|-2) ago 

Sounds like you care more about what people think of what you have to say, than what you have to say.

[–] [deleted] 0 points 20 points (+20|-0) ago  (edited ago)

[Deleted]

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[–] AthleticSharts 0 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago 

I somewhat agree because I say what I'm going to say and it doesn't really bother me if the internet points are positive or negative. What does bother me is when a well thought out and reasoned post is buried (mine or anyone else's) because a few shitheads are "offended" but don't even bother with a reply to refute or disagree. I don't care if you downvote someone, but at least say why (if someone else hasn't already made your point).

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[–] whynotanon1 0 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago 

downvotes are a ware to censor unpopular opinions by removing them from the public eye. they should exist only to curate content

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[–] Reow 0 points 10 points (+10|-0) ago 

I'm with DjangoRed on this one, but it's not because I care what other people think. Downvotes on Reddit were frequently used to silence/hide any dissenting opinions. Rather than the most constructive and best comments being at the top of threads, it was those comments that agreed with whatever circlejerk was currently possible. Aside from this discouraging people from participating in discussions (I mean, what's the point when your thoughts will be buried), it also sucked as someone coming to the comments looking for discussion (half the time sorting by Controversial provided better discussion than sorting by Top, but then you had to read through all the crap as well).

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[–] plastination_station 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

I'm right there with you. commenting should be like talking.

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[–] flamero 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

I shouldn't have to continuously apologize for possibly offending people, so people don't shutdown when reading my comment and going into autodownvote mode. I shouldn't have to explicitly state if I'm playing devil's advocate or if something is not my personal views.

This is exactly the reason why I refrain from contributing in most cases when I only want to bring up an opinion or another point of view to create more discussion. If I don't preemptively apologize or explain why I'm posting the comment I'll get showered with downvotes and I really don't feel like every comment should be written as an essay.
This is especially true on topics which a lot of people have very strong feelings about, such as freedoms, rights and politics and whatnot. You ask a question or bring up an opposite view in any manner and your comment is instantly downvoted below threshold.

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[–] davydaggers 2 points -2 points (+0|-2) ago 

downvotes are how keyboard warrior faggots censor dissenting views. this is what we have to fight against.

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[–] JayTea 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Hey! What do you think you're fucking doing?! You can't just make tell people to try to improve themselves instead of complaining about it! Thats not this works! UHG!

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[–] Skwerley ago 

People are experiencing waves of brigading. Small, albeit, but telling.

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[–] SwimmingInAFishbowl ago 

Fuck yes this. Lazy people shouldn't be rewarded with unlimited down voats.

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