Current Events > Reddit upvote system just doesn't make sense to me.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Imagine being part of a forum dedicated to Pie. You decide to start a discussion on this beloved dessert, only to find your straightforward post about Pie hit with an overwhelming number of downvotes. Its a simple, unassuming post about Pie nothing controversial, just plain Pie talk. What are your thoughts on that voting system?

EDIT: Also I really like the idea of the name Pie Talk. That might be my new own going topic. But it would be counter productive to my weight loss one.

A lot of people on reddit seem to be bratty kids who think it's funny to fuck with people's karma. They don't need a reason to downvote.

Also, let's say one random person happens to see your comment with 1 upvote, and they happen to downvote it. When other people see it sitting at 0 or lower, they'll downvote too.

Before you know it, you've got snowballing downvotes

You like apple pie the most so you automatically upvote anything about apple pie You also don't like peach pie so you take the time to downvote anything that mentions peach pie.

the point is that popular posters get thread seen while people without popularity cannot make a thread that has views without really compelling content

obsolete posted...

You like apple pie the most so you automatically upvote anything about apple pie You also don't like peach pie so you take the time to downvote anything that mentions peach pie.

also you check the up and coming threads and downvote all the ones around yours so yours goes higher, nothing personnel

WingsOfGood posted...

also you check the up and coming threads and downvote all the ones around yours so yours goes higher, nothing personnel

I had no clue people did that.

In theory, it helps communities self-regulate. Content they want to see gets boosted visibility, content they don't gets suppressed. This is good. In theory.

In practice, it creates massive echo chambers, and new content gets routinely squashed by posts that already have hundreds to thousands of up votes that dominate the field.

It also creates a scenario where bigots, shit stirrers, and other horrible people scream and moan about how they're being "censored" when they spew their bullshit and it gets down voted. Allow me to offer my condolences:

https://youtu.be/VYlkgMz5k5M?si=Gs-TBGzHipNz7Biq

Have you tried making your pie posts better?

MICHALECOLE posted...

Have you tried making your pie posts better?

I make the best Pie Post.

Titles like... If pizza pie is considered a pie, then why not quiche? And while we're at it, why not cobbler?

Yeah Id downvote the fuck out of that

MICHALECOLE posted...

Yeah Id downvote the fuck out of that

Quiche is more of a pie then Pizza would ever be.

Also while this completely a joke. Now I am honestly wondering how pizza got to be called a pie

Letsago posted...

Also, let's say one random person happens to see your comment with 1 upvote, and they happen to downvote it. When other people see it sitting at 0 or lower, they'll downvote too.

Before you know it, you've got snowballing downvotes

It's extremely hard not to downvote a post with a lot of downvotes. It's like an itch in your brain that makes you want to see how low it can get.

It makes sense for a Q&A forum. I have a question, up vote the best answer, then when someone new has that question, the first response they see is also likely to be the most helpful.

But here I come for a conversation. The upvoting/downvoting fractures the conversation, makes it more about having the best one-liner to the original post than actually having a back and forth.

also you know how people on CE were known to make alts and reply to themselves?

imagine if they could upvote their post making it more visible

would they have tons of alt bot accounts?

yes, yes they would

that is reddit

How about a topic on GFaqs?

Ppl don't like it... so downvote it by mass reporting it and then the user is suspended because it doesn't matter if something isn't against the rules.

MICHALECOLE posted...

Yeah Id downvote the fuck out of that

JustaSandwich posted...

It's extremely hard not to downvote a post with a lot of downvotes. It's like an itch in your brain that makes you want to see how low it can get.

How low can u go? All the way to the floor?