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by andrewstuart 709 days ago
Terrible idea.

Downvote is inherently toxic.

They should do something useful like mandatory tags, exploration clouds and auto translations.

3 comments

Why do you think it is toxic? Sometimes, I read a tweet or posts on X that I disagree with. Currently, I am missing the ability to express that. On the contrary the status quo of social networks interprets me - reading a post - as a signal to boost its spread, whereas I come to the conclusion it should not be spread.

Twitter and X were often compared to a global town square. Imagine you hear a rumor on a town square, but decide not to spread it. You can just do that in reality. This is practically impossible with most social networks. That leads to the fact that click-bait dominates so many social networks. That is toxic in my opinion.

There is a growing number of people that seem to be uncomfortable with the idea that people might not share their opinion. This is not a sign of extremism of the others, as it is often stated, but a sign of a healthy and diverse pool of opinions. One can agree with a post and disagree, neither is bad per se or even toxic.

I think the inherent problem is that it's nearly impossible to have a civil conversation on social media. It's just a terrible place for it. Especially with controversial topics like politics, religion, and AI, it's impossible to discuss anything without people being jerks. Not everyone uses social media to debate; many just want to reaffirm their views and interact with like-minded people. I'm not saying that's without issues, but that's the reality. People can already mute or block others, so a dislike button would just be another tool in their toolbox.
>>> Sometimes, I read a tweet or posts on X that I disagree with. Currently, I am missing the ability to express that.

Errrrr..... you must have missed the "reply" button. The entirety of everything, every conversation on Twitter is people disagreeing with other people.

Yeah but he misses the ability to express it to the algorithm. Commenting on a post you disagree with invariably boosts its rankings, replying to a person you disagree gives them more visibility. It would be nice if the rankings system could understand dissent
That is what I meant.
I didn't downvote this comment, but it's a bit funny that a comment complaining about downvotes is itself being downvoted.
I wonder if it was done with intentional irony.
I did, caring too much about points on social media is toxic. Signaling only in one direction is delusional. Don't change your behavior based on this to appease people.

Hit me too. Up/down/wherever. It's up to you as the observer. The peer is right, intentional irony applies.

'We' collectively forget how to disagree because we've been conditioned to be too damn agreeable. Say something because you believe it, not because it will get updoots

> Downvote is inherently toxic.

So right on brand for X then.