I don't understand fully how the rating system of PeerTube works. My best assumption is that every instance keeps its own records instead of relying on the video-hosting instance to do so.
This would explain why the introductory video to PeerTube, certainly viewed by a ton of people, received only 30 upvotes on the instance I use. Surely, if the option were there, it would be used.
Though, this quickly begs the question: Why is this even a thing?
Upvotes/Downvotes are not tools that are necessary for a discussion; it works fine without.
I think, much rather, they are a tool to bind people to a platform, to give a feeling of instant gratification for the uploader, and an illusion of participation for the user.
The same arguments used against YouTube's removal of dislikes could be used here: The rating system allows for faulty content to be identified as such. Yet, this is nothing that for example a comment system couldn't solve.
This is why I ask myself, is it really needed? Or is it just carried along because YouTube does it?
i don't know if i'll ever use it for much, but if i do it's here