this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2025
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Ugh, this creates a dilemma: upvote or not? I’m never sure what to do here.
I hate the content so I want to downvote, but I like the awareness so I want to upvote.
I think upvotes are for the quality of the content in the post and comments are for sharing your opinion.
So, upvote when the post fits the purpose of the community, spurs discussion, and follows the rules.
Comment to tell people what you think about the content of the post.
If we downvoted every time there was horrible news we didn't agree with communities like news and politics would never receive a single upvote.
I think you're spot on yeah.
Content aggregators (where Digg, Reddit, and to a certain degree StumbleUpon were the obvious choices) generally use the upvote/downvote tooling to promote content that users think are worthy to be shared or should be seen more; same with comments if they add constructively to the discussion regardless of viewpoint.
The problem with using upvote and downvote style tools to express like and dislike means that you just end up with an echo chamber of "goodthink" and a community that circlejerks itself, where dissenting or controversial but possibly accurate comments and posts never see the light of day.