Edit: I know this isn’t a trouble shooting forum, but I’m marking it solved because I’ll just hide vote counts in my app (Voyager) from now on.
So I know there’s a whole thing about not taking votes seriously, but if I’m having a good faith discussion with someone, and I KNOW they’re the only person reading my comment reply in an older thread, and they downvote me, how am I not supposed to take it as a “fuck you” button?
I mean, here I am, honestly talking to you as AN INDIVIDUAL because ain’t nobody else reading this, and I’m writing a few paragraphs about my perspective to share with you personally, and your ONLY reaction is to downvote me because we don’t share the same exact opinonm even though we might be on the same side generally?
Fuck me, bro? No, FUCK YOU!
Is this emotionally immature of me? I mean, I don’t know. Like, if you were having a discussion in public with someone and they just rolled their eyes and walked away, and this KEPT happening, how long before you just stop leaving the house entirely?
To me, it’s incredibly fucking rude.
Edit: I know it’s possible it’s not the person I’m talking to downvoting me, but it most likely is.
My personal rule is that if someone is posting something worth engaging with a reply, then I don’t downvote — even if they downvote me because that didn’t ultimately mean anything. If they are disagreeing but doing it well (being thoughtful and respectful for our differences), I even upvote people I’m disagreeing with. Though not if they are downvoting me lol.
But the thing is, my rules apply to exactly me and no one else. I chose with whom I engage, and how, and when to stop whether on good terms or bad. Also my rules are somewhat arbitrary and subject to change if they aren’t serving me well.
Anyway, I leave it to other readers to judge each person’s conduct for themselves. If they are being an asshole and I’m not, then the people who appreciate my comment are there people I care to reach. If someone thinks being an asshole is funny and entertaining, I don’t care about their opinion anyway.
Yeah, if I see someone I’m talking with at 0 or negative, I’ll give them an upvote because I appreciate them discussing things with me and I’m thinking, “What the fuck, guys, let them talk.”