created by Echogem222 on 17/12/2024 at 05:38 UTC*
37 upvotes, 16 top-level comments (showing 16)
Reddit’s karma system serves a vital purpose: it helps keep the platform free of bots, spammers, and low-quality content. By earning upvotes, users are rewarded with karma, which can act as a measure of their reputation and contributions. Conversely, downvotes can decrease karma, which can have tangible effects—many subreddits require a certain amount of karma to post or comment. This is designed to ensure that new or inactive accounts, as well as bad actors, cannot easily disrupt communities.
The downvote button is **not** a “disagree” button. Its purpose is to filter out content that is *irrelevant, off-topic, or unhelpful*—not to silence opinions you don’t like. Reddit thrives when people can share diverse ideas and perspectives. If someone shares an opinion you don’t agree with, that’s okay! Engaging with them constructively or moving on entirely is far better than downvoting out of disagreement. Otherwise, the system risks punishing thoughtful contributions simply because they are unpopular.
Edit: Having a like and dislike button that has nothing to do with karma is something I believe would be wise to add so people better understand this.
Comment by nvmbernine at 17/12/2024 at 06:04 UTC
47 upvotes, 5 direct replies
The problem is, people literally do exactly what they shouldn't in terms of the upvote/downvote system.
You can have an opinion people don't agree with, despite being entirely relevant to the topic and it'll still be downvoted into oblivion.
This is unlikely to change, having watched it gradually get worse over the last decade, I fear it'll likely always be this way even if a separate like/dislike system as you suggest were to be added.
Comment by Nelagend at 17/12/2024 at 20:55 UTC
10 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Users use upvotes and downvotes as they choose to, not as you or the platform wish them to. No amount of instruction will change this.
Comment by gabrrdt at 18/12/2024 at 10:35 UTC*
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Almost all users use the downvote system to express disagreement and to "beat a dead horse". Like, they see someone being downvoted, and then they downvote more and express more disagreement because they feel safe and supported doing so. On the other hand, people who agree with a post stay silent if there is a post being downvote bombed.
I think reddit should (and probably will) change this system at a certain moment, because the way it is doesn't really work and many times good discussions are avoided because of that. Probably it will end just like YouTube, which got rid of the downvotes a few time ago (posts can still be downvoted, but they don't reach a negative countdown).
Comment by Das_Mime at 17/12/2024 at 08:07 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Really the problem with this idea is that people don't agree on what content is good or bad and what content contributes, or doesn't, to the discussion.
Comment by 1ClassyDame at 17/12/2024 at 21:04 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
How does Reddit's Karma handle slander? Reddit: “...we rarely remove [defamatory] material." What vital purpose does slander serve?
Comment by colinwheeler at 19/12/2024 at 06:21 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It would be great if the community could get this across to the often quite toxic mod community who fail to understand this or encourage it.
Comment by TameBus at 19/12/2024 at 14:08 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Why not just focus on free speech?
Comment by Nytse at 17/12/2024 at 07:18 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This is why I try to prevent making yes or no questions to reddit posts when asking a question. People who use new reddit or the app would just look at the post's title and picture and use the voting systems as a yes/no button.
I guess if the post title is framed a certain way favoring the yes answer, you can get more traction on the post compared to the average post.
Comment by yeah_youbet at 17/12/2024 at 16:37 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I don't understand the rise of posts in this subreddit seeming to be fully written by ChatGPT
Comment by Homerbola92 at 17/12/2024 at 19:35 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
When you're a radical the only opinions that are "good content" or "relevant" are the ones you share.
It also has some kind of tribal component if you ask me, where a group of people fight against one individual if he dares to disagree. When you see the other negative votes you feel yourself supported and you keep downvoting to support your tribe.
Comment by zaryawatch at 17/12/2024 at 13:59 UTC*
2 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Every sub seems to have a downvote crew. These are people who should probably touch grass.
Downvotes hide comments, upvotes elevate them. Beyond whatever else you think voting does, and beyond the guidelines, and beyond individual sub rules, that is effectively what votes accomplish. Hide or elevate comments. If people would approach this with less ego and malice, all subs would be better off.
If reddit were nothing but a collected bunch of social misfits, you could just take or leave the moderation system and the platform itself, but since there are now shareholders involved, someone should probably mind the platform itself. Shareholders don't want the platform crapped on by kids with more time than sense, right?
Maybe limit the number of downvotes people get. Earn them by posting and commenting, by getting upvotes...something.
I came here to make a post about the downvote crew, but I see it gets discussed often, and it's probably futile. I'm not anxious to spend my time in a place so easily sabotaged, and my recourse is apparently to not participate.
Will someone please think of the shareholders lol.
Comment by [deleted] at 17/12/2024 at 23:04 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[removed]
Comment by [deleted] at 19/12/2024 at 19:25 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[removed]
Comment by BoringExperience5345 at 17/12/2024 at 10:26 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Reddit is people. 50% of people are of below average intelligence. Any questions?
Comment by barrygateaux at 17/12/2024 at 09:23 UTC
-1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Reddit’s karma system serves a vital purpose: it helps keep the platform free of bots, spammers, and low-quality content.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahaha
The system risks punishing thoughtful contributions simply because they are unpopular.
This is how reddit works in reality
don’t downvote someone for expressing their opinion... so people better understand this.
Yeah, that's going to work. Well done, you solved it!
Pointless ai written post lmfao
Comment by Idkdontbanmepls at 17/12/2024 at 07:50 UTC*
-2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Your idea is flawed because the way you look at things is flawed in a way that you don't seem to understand the why of people's behavior and can't predict how communities will act well despite having previous behaviors to base off from, you're trying to cram this issue into a little box so that you can properly stack it into the right spot ("majority people don't understand downvoting, so that's why they're downvoting wrong, so I'll explain") very very few will care that they're using it wrong and even if they do care, the majority of the very few people will still use it wrong as it also works as a dislike.
People don't care about using things like they're supposed to, they care about how they feel and their want to reward and attract people that align with their opinions and discourage and silence outsiders or people that offend them, reddit as a whole acts this way, you have to lean left politically or you're gonna have a bad time is an example of that, peoples established behavior on here isn't changing in a way anyone would even notice because of a new system because this is how they always wanted it to be