My wonderful co-admin @supakaity@lemmy.blahaj.zone has made a modification to the downvote system. It’s not currently enabled, but if we were to turn it on, downvotes would be available for use, but they would weigh 5 times less than an upvote.

Which is to say, it would take 5 downvotes to counter an upvote. This would let downvotes have an impact on what appears in the hot topics sort, but hopefully mitigate some of the more negative impacts of downvoting.

Are there any strong objections from Blahaj Lemmy users to enabling downvotes with this modification?

  • ‘Leigh 🏳️‍⚧️
    31·
    2 years ago

    Would it be possible to enable this at the topic level but not the comment level? My thinking is that it makes sense for helping users decide what posts to read in the first place, but would still discourage low-effort negativity that doesn’t actually contribute to a discussion.

    But even if the answer to that is “no”… I don’t strongly object to trying this out and seeing how it works for this community. 🙂 If de-weighted downvotes still lead to problems, the change could always be reverted. Thank you for exploring the options!

    • AdaOPMAEnglish
      19·
      2 years ago

      Would it be possible to enable this at the topic level but not the comment level?

      That’s actually a really good idea, and it addresses most of my concerns with the downvote system. However, I have no idea what is involved in making that happen in the backend, and don’t want to throw even more work at @supakaity :)

      • SekoiaEnglish
        11·
        2 years ago

        So, looking at the Lemmy code it seems pretty straightforward (like, really straightforward. There’s two checks, one for comments and one for posts, so just make them use different functions). I can try doing it, maybe even propose it as a PR upstream. Might take me a day or two for a PR though.

        • JonEnglish
          3·
          2 years ago

          If it’s straightforward, I’d Very much support this!

        • LanthanaeEnglish
          2·
          2 years ago

          If you don’t end up making the PR I’m down to go check it out. If you do make the PR, link it so I can go give my support for it lol.

            • LanthanaeEnglish
              2·
              2 years ago

              Ah that’s a shame, although I understand where they’re coming from being wary of complicating settings for the front-end. Either way I’ll look into it a bit when I can get to my PC and see if there’s still any hope for it lol.

              Regardless of what happens with it, I appreciate you making the PR!

    • trucuteEnglish
      3·
      2 years ago

      I think comments could still benefit from the weighting, but maybe a lesser ratio?