I see voting as decentralized moderation, not as an expression of agreement or like or something.
Upvote means "I want people to see this" and downvote means "I don't want people to see this."
this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2026
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That's the ideal.
But I think most people conflate those with agree and disagree.
That's still consistent, normal people don't want posts they disagree with to be seen by other people. Only debate perverts would upvote something they disagree with, because they want people to see "good discussion" or whatever.
EDIT To clarify, as a proud debate pervert I tend to upvote people I'm arguing with just so our argument gets more visibility.
agreed that's human nature at it's core. Reddits tried for years to push the "Upvote things that bring good discussion, downvote things that don't". But yeah humans always will be humans, I don't see a time when a majority will ever follow that understanding, though I try my best to still follow it.
That's true. I don't think it's generally a problem, but I do find it funny when you see someone politely correct someone else deep in a chain where no one else is reading, and the correction says "0".
To anyone who downvotes like that: you look like an insecure clown.
100%. Content sorting is (to my understanding) handled by peer vote rather than any kind of central algorithm on Lemmy by default, so a vote is much less about agreement/disagreement, and much more about doing your part in the process of separating the wheat from the chaff imo.
In my view, even a (non-bot) lurker who only views/votes is still contributing to the community, because they still add another data point for sorting. It’s a collective effort that generates a collective content algorithm, so a person should vote accordingly.
This. It's "I like this content" or "I dislike this content", not agree or disagree. I get annoyed when people downvote because they don't agree with an opinion, as it will then get less eyes. Downvote if the content is misinformation or just blatantly bad.
I'd like to say I upvote anything that I think is a positive addition to the community it's posted in, regardless of whether I agree with it substantively or not. But honestly, it's all just vibes.
Downvotes aren't a thing on my instance and I like it that way.
For me:
Agree = Up vote
Agree, but your comment was cringe = No vote
Agree, but you presented it in an ultra-cringy way that actually weakens the point = Down vote
Disagree = No vote
Disagree, but very good and valid point = Up vote
Disagree, and also cringe = Down vote
I think of votes as adding or decreasing visibility. Which is a little different than "I like this." An upvote means you think other people should see a post/comment.
So unsavory but important things still deserve an upvote imo. That doesn't mean you like the thing being discussed.
As usual they are the like and dislike buttons. People will cope but when you ask them to explain how they use them they'll say "I use the upvote button for (thing that they like) and the downvote button for (thing that they dislike)"
Upvotes and Downotes mean whatever you want them to mean.
If I think your comment could be in a script that Kevin Bacon would have accepted at any point in his career I upvote it.
If not, I ignore it.
If it mentioned Kanye in a good light, I downvote
I've heard worse justifications for up/down voting
You are supposed to upvote things that:
- you like
- belong in the community it's posted in
- upvoting favors it for the algorithm, ranking it higher and making it stay longer. If you want others to see the stuff, you upvote.
With comments, you are supposed to upvote things that contribute to the discussion, even if you disagree with it, but in practice people often just upvote what they like and agree with and downvote what they don't agree with and there is pretty much nothing anyone can do to change that. So do what you think is right.
I upvote anything that passes the bar of "This content is a positive addition to Lemmy" + my margin for laziness.
I downvote anything I consider pure garbage.
If I like it, up vote.
If I am ambivalent but like that they are contributing in a constructive or humorous way that is a net positive, up vote even if I don't care for it or agree with it.
If it has misinformation, racism/sexism/etc., is over the top hostile without justification, or is otherwise a net negative to discussion then down vote.
If I'm not sure if it is being sarcastic I tend to not vote. Poe's Law is like Brannigan's law, hard and fast.
I vote up if I think it adds value to the discussion or should be seen more. When I down vote it's because I feel is not adding value or off topic.
I miss the way Slashdot votes worked, where there are separate counts for each sentiment like agree/disagree, insightful, funny, etc. Maybe reaction emojis are the modern version of that?