What were some "bad habits" on reddit that we should try to avoid bringing over here?
What were some "bad habits" on reddit that we should try to avoid bringing over here?
As the fediverse continues to grow, let's reflect on some of the things that we disliked most about posting/lurking on reddit and what we can do differently now that we have a chance to build something new.
downvoting for disagreement. people on reddit treat upvotes/downvotes as agree/disagree, when they really should be used to promote thoughtful and good content, not necessarily what you agree with. If you think someone is participating in a thread properly, and promoting and inviting discussion and making the place better (even if you disagree with them) you should upvote instead.
reddit all too often let "lazy" comments float to the top because they were agreeable with the masses, but low effort.
It's a good point, but very difficult (maybe even impossible) to achieve. Downvoting to disagree is a kneejerk reaction that is very easy to do, so it's going to require a lot of self discipline to avoid - and I don't think you can expect that from most people.
I don't even really think that there should be downvotes. Just different categories of votes, kinda like how Fark does comments with 'Smart' and 'Funny' votes.
unfortunately true. it would be nice to avoid though
I avoid it on my instance by disabling downvotes
I wonder about repurposing a shitty thing from reddit into a good thing: the classic but annoying 'this' reply. Suppose someone posts something you disagree with rather than just hitting the downvote type a 'disagree' as a reply. Then like minded people can upvote or downvote the 'disagree' as its own thing leaving the original post to be judged or interacted with on its merits.
For this to work, the upvote would likewise have to cease meaning "agree" and instead mean "good answer." Unfortunately that'd be a step too far for most people. At the end of the day, entertainment, not edification, is the primary driver for most people to be on social media. So they need a way to express favor for answers that are enjoyed even if they don't lead to deeper discussion.
Perhaps a three button system would work.
All that said, I also would love there to be less lazy comments.
Your expectation of what upvoting and downvoting represents does not match up with the most intuitive psychological interpretations are - and therefore, it is unrealistic.
However, I will also state that while the problem you perceive is more relevant for comments, having up/downvotes represent Like/Dislike is more appropriate at the Thread/Post level - as the idea for a subreddit is that content users like should be promoted and content they don't want to see should be demoted.
That makes it even more difficult because now you want the arrows to mean different things depending on the area they are used.
You will never break the link between voting and Like/Dislike. However, what you can do is have a separate control to indicate whether a comment is appropriate or not.
Since "approving" can be done with both voting and boosting, I feel like the context of the vote is different. It's more like something I'd want to see implemented as "drag and drop the posts to help rank them". You would still have people who try to bury things by moving them to the bottom of the thread, but the additional friction of ranking high-to-low would turn the reaction into a more complex "but which one of these is actually the Best Comment". Like, you'd automatically bias towards putting the best at the top, not burying the worst.
IMO: upvote = relevant comment in the thread. boost = I want to share this with my followers.
I don't actually know how boost effects a comment?
I always commented way more than I voted. When I was like, wow, this post is great and useful to me. It got an upvoate. Conversely when someone just made no sense or seemed to be trolling then it got the downvote. If I simply disagree I just comment to say so.
I'm doing my part. It's a hard habit to break, but it'll be worth it. If this interpretation of the system catches on, then there should be less echo chambers as a result, because different perspectives will be accepted and not shunned.