I think of downvotes and upvotes as head nods, and head shakes.

Head nods and head shakes are not constructive criticism.

Removing the ability to give low effort or low quality criticism would encourage us to put effort into real criticism, no?

  • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Votes increase engagement.

    Imagine you make a really good post, but there’s nothing to really add to it. If there weren’t votes, it would look like that post wasn’t even seen by anyone because no one responded. This would discourage posters and effectively kill the forum.

    I can see an argument for removing downvotes, but removing votes entirely would be a huge mistake.