I can understand the desire to get as many downvotes as possible on reddit. I don’t sympathize, but I can at least see where people are coming from. Because Reddit gives you that total and shows it to you.
And I’m sure it’s possible to use an API to really that number up on Lemmy, but “total karma” doesn’t seem to be something Lemmy cares about by default, so where is the motivation coming from?
Is it just the same reason people have always been trolls? Because I’ve never quite understood that, either
As long as I get some amount of engagement, the points really don’t matter to me. I once posted something in an attempt to call attention to misogyny. The post broke no rules, but given my intent, I suppose it could be considered trolling. Most people (and probably some of their sock puppets) didn’t agree with me and I got quite a few downvotes on the post itself and in the comments, but if it made one person reconsider their position, it was worth it to me.
I think in my mind trolling has to be perpetrated in bad faith, i.e. your stated intentions and actual intentions are at least different and quite possibly contrary. Doesn’t sound like you were trolling.
Darn. I really need to buckle down and climb back under that bridge. 😆