EDIT: Maybe just for comments? Downvoats may still help with content quality control
There is some good in the concept of downvoating however in practice we've seen and continue to see the primary use a downvoat button will be an "I disagree with this person" button.
Removing downvoating entirely will not negatively impact the site. Misinformation will still be called out and not upvoated, spammers should be reported(hoping for that report button one day), ass holes will be called out, irrelevant posts and comments will be ignored/receive very few if any upvoats or get reported.
Removing the downvoat ability would also deal with any future issues with brigades, which was a big issue on that other place.
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[–] Xelios 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Personally, my biggest gripe with the downvoat system is brigading against a user or subreddit or ideology, which sort of fits into disagreement. The problem I have with allowing Mods to regulate only is that it relies on having good mods. Some guy mgiht make a sub that becomes hugely popular but doesn't hire good mods or care to regulate it (we've seen it a lot over at reddit), which means that these sub's will have no effective regulation. It could also lead to suppression of content/censorship.
We'd see threads like "This mod has been suppresing users and censoring any time they try to speak up!" and even though the post would be well intention, you know what would happen because of it? Brigading.
This is why I'm not really for removing the power from the users entirely.
[–] forbidden_arts ago
We're already beholden to having "good" mods.
In a sub like /v/news or /v/politics (which, on the predecessor site generate a lot of content), I'd argue that downvoats should be disabled or restricted, because expressing an unpopular opinion shouldn't cause a user to get fucked over.
[–] Xelios ago
Personally, I agree that some subreddits, should the owners choose, should have the ability to remove downvoats. I do not think it should be a default setting, however.