Regarding the majority of users acting a specific way, I question how conducive that is to a true social space. That behavior almost entirely exists because of the way social media is structured and it’s not really social as much as there is no way for me offline to downvote someone. I might make a facial expression, but I’ve also assigned an identity to the displeasure that can continue into an interaction for better or worse. When I deface a flyer, I can be spotted and engaged. Downvoting has no equivalent and I wonder how much a numerical tally of anonymous opinion (almost like we are having a plebiscite every time someone speaks) is healthy. It can in fact silence people in a new way, probably part of what influenced a lack of total karma in Lemmy’s design akin to part of what is wrong with Reddit.
Regarding ableism, I feel like that’s a stretch. I don’t know that I can agree with any right to comment on social media. If people want to run shitholes, they can and do, and people leave them for other communities which results in division that doesn’t always exist offline in other social communities with less permanent insight (comments last “forever” and can be searched on the fly). It’s like saying I have any right to exist in the house of someone who hates me. I don’t.
Additionally, as pointed out above: downvoting is anonymous. I’m reluctant to assign agency of voice in that because of how flippantly it can be done and how unimportant it is regarded, unlike voting for presidents. You can recall a downvote; you cannot do so with a ballot. I am also not getting a real perspective out of it. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the livepolling they do during some debates on-screen, but it turns them into a spectacle. I feel like the same occurs here and Reddit with dunking and disbelief. I generally like to avoid that sort of thing. I want to hear from a disabled person to actually believe I have seen their voice in use, not a temporary feeling that can go as far as misunderstanding to hating one detail strongly.
EDIT: Also man, I hate to say this because I generally feel like it’s low-hanging fruit, but “stupid” and “dumb” are ableist terms. I just find it ironic to have to jump on the front of defending against ableist accusations when I’m seeing that in the same breath. It’s silly as all hell. I feel like ableism here is a crutch to lean on. Anyone, not just the disabled, can be so mentally exhausted as to not want to engage, so just…don’t. Hell, I am even sometimes. I’d wager to say we all agree on more things than not, so if something is small enough to not delete the comment or ban someone but egregious enough to evoke a response? It’s probably not that bad at the end of the day.
It feels disproportionate, and I want to clarify this particularly because you’re a mod and I am not, and I’m being told my position is ableist while you’re actually using ableist terms. People have made minor agreement with me and haven’t gotten downvoted, but every comment I’ve made in this thread has been downvoted twice while your comment is upvoted more times than mine has votes period. This shows more people here engage than not (as in, they tend to avoid the downvote in favor of a comment), yet downvoting is still generally used for less prosocial purposes. It feels disproportionate because it is and no one else is regarding the actual terms in context of the accusation. It’s a method for shutting down discussion, not a useful tool.
Regarding the majority of users acting a specific way, I question how conducive that is to a true social space. That behavior almost entirely exists because of the way social media is structured and it’s not really social as much as there is no way for me offline to downvote someone. I might make a facial expression, but I’ve also assigned an identity to the displeasure that can continue into an interaction for better or worse. When I deface a flyer, I can be spotted and engaged. Downvoting has no equivalent and I wonder how much a numerical tally of anonymous opinion (almost like we are having a plebiscite every time someone speaks) is healthy. It can in fact silence people in a new way, probably part of what influenced a lack of total karma in Lemmy’s design akin to part of what is wrong with Reddit.
Regarding ableism, I feel like that’s a stretch. I don’t know that I can agree with any right to comment on social media. If people want to run shitholes, they can and do, and people leave them for other communities which results in division that doesn’t always exist offline in other social communities with less permanent insight (comments last “forever” and can be searched on the fly). It’s like saying I have any right to exist in the house of someone who hates me. I don’t.
Additionally, as pointed out above: downvoting is anonymous. I’m reluctant to assign agency of voice in that because of how flippantly it can be done and how unimportant it is regarded, unlike voting for presidents. You can recall a downvote; you cannot do so with a ballot. I am also not getting a real perspective out of it. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the livepolling they do during some debates on-screen, but it turns them into a spectacle. I feel like the same occurs here and Reddit with dunking and disbelief. I generally like to avoid that sort of thing. I want to hear from a disabled person to actually believe I have seen their voice in use, not a temporary feeling that can go as far as misunderstanding to hating one detail strongly.
EDIT: Also man, I hate to say this because I generally feel like it’s low-hanging fruit, but “stupid” and “dumb” are ableist terms. I just find it ironic to have to jump on the front of defending against ableist accusations when I’m seeing that in the same breath. It’s silly as all hell. I feel like ableism here is a crutch to lean on. Anyone, not just the disabled, can be so mentally exhausted as to not want to engage, so just…don’t. Hell, I am even sometimes. I’d wager to say we all agree on more things than not, so if something is small enough to not delete the comment or ban someone but egregious enough to evoke a response? It’s probably not that bad at the end of the day.
It feels disproportionate, and I want to clarify this particularly because you’re a mod and I am not, and I’m being told my position is ableist while you’re actually using ableist terms. People have made minor agreement with me and haven’t gotten downvoted, but every comment I’ve made in this thread has been downvoted twice while your comment is upvoted more times than mine has votes period. This shows more people here engage than not (as in, they tend to avoid the downvote in favor of a comment), yet downvoting is still generally used for less prosocial purposes. It feels disproportionate because it is and no one else is regarding the actual terms in context of the accusation. It’s a method for shutting down discussion, not a useful tool.