What should I use it for?
In case of posts - should I downvote things that I don’t agree with? Or things that I don’t want to see in my feed (posts with low amount of votes fell more to the bottom)? Or things that I consider harmful/stupid/younameit?
In case of comments - should I downvote something that I don’t agree with? When should I use this button in case of comments. Or maybe I should not - cause what’s the point, actually?
Haven’t had much need for it here.
On Reddit, I use it on those things that actively take away from the conversation. Trolling, pushing obviously wrong information, blatant racism/sexism/other-ism.
But, as little as I do use it, I find it supremely important to have. Trolls get downvoted out of the conversation. It’s a way to fight brigading. It’s the only easy/consistent way to give input as to what content doesn’t fit into a particular sub. Downvoting can be problematic, but it’s less problematic than those sites that try to be all warm/fuzzy and only allow positive input.
I see websites that only allow positive votes as a form of censoring dissenting opinion. They want to make it hard to disagree with a post and as a result the supporters reign supreme.
My personal theory is this is the reason Facebook is such a cesspool of far right content, conspiracy/antivax content, multilevel marketing, and general stupidity.
Though the downvote is also a tool for brigading. If a systems uses the downvote button for the “opposite” of the upvote button, it’s the same thing just negative/reverse. You can use either one for brigading.
I will direct you to my comment in this post - https://lemmy.ml/post/39710/comment/16690 which may be treated as a response to your comment.
That’s great, and I disagree with you. I find that a downvote button, even if it’s not frequently used, increases my engagement with a comment section. I’ve consistently preferred those sites that have both positive and negative voting. If you don’t, that’s cool too, but I think you’re wrong :)