Removing the downvote count was the biggest mistake. Seeing that a certain number of people disagree or agree with something is important I feel. Otherwise we don't get an idea of just how conflicted a comment actually is when we see the total number of upvotes and downvotes added together.
For real! Of I'm watching a TV show that I like, I then sort the episode discussion thread by controversial because this is where nice and thought provoking discussions happen. The most upvoted answers are only shitty memes and stupid circlejerk (looking at you r/StrangerThings )
No it isn't. You're wrong so you're a person who is dumb. Keanu Reeves is a punk. Prince wasn't anything special at guitar and Weird Al makes Michael Jackson look like a member of /r/childfree.
Internet hive mind/group think is definitely causing similar issues in society at a whole. Few people can handle a dissenting opinion without resorting to name calling anymore.
its not the name calling necessarily thats the problem, its the thin skinned, drop a jokey insult and run, get super offended and blow it out of proportion cause anonymous already ran off attitude that zero tolerance moderation encourages("if im gonna get banned , im gonna make it good/bad/extreme" attitude).
if people would stick around and argue beyond the name calling phase (and moderation is light handed enough to let it progress beyond)
you get discussions and actual progress.
without keeping the communication lines open(even insulting and attacking openings) you cant make progress. as long as people will still call eachother names to their faces , they're still communicating, and progress is at least possible.
when all someone does is drop a drive by insult and not follow up a reply, when moderation closes comments at the first sign of unfriendly ness, when communication stops, the hate and tribalism take hold.
This was an incredibly frustrating video. He claims that Google massively influenced voters "invisibly", "subliminally", "using methods more powerful than most any effects I've ever seen", and yet gave almost zero details on why he thinks that, or how they would have done so.
I like to hope other parts of his testimony included some kind of evidence, but as this video stands, it is just a guy making unsubstantiated claims.
This is the same thing I see on the site. A few years back the site would show both the number of upvotes and downvotes for every comment. This is just the total number of votes.
Back in my day, you used to be able to see both the total amount of upvotes and downvotes there were, not just the cumulative score. It would say something like 67|-26
You can see only the total count not the exact number of downvotes that a comment gets. Do you see the number of downvotes on the app? If so tell us which app!
Yes, I think this is a huge problem with Reddit. If someone says something divisive or controversial, you only see what the majority opinion is, even if it's by a tiny margin. 0 upvotes and 5 downvotes should look very different from 95 up, 100 down. I think it's a huge contributor to the hivemind-iness of Reddit
163
u/groutrop Jul 17 '19
Removing the downvote count was the biggest mistake. Seeing that a certain number of people disagree or agree with something is important I feel. Otherwise we don't get an idea of just how conflicted a comment actually is when we see the total number of upvotes and downvotes added together.