I’ve seen a good bit of debate on Kbin surrounding downvotes, so what are your thoughts? Should they exist? Should they be shown separately? Should you be able to see who downvoted?
I personally like downvotes and especially like that they’re shown separately. You’re able to get a much better idea of how people feel about something, and you can more easily express a minority opinion. Of course, there are downsides (e.g., brigades), but I think the pros outweigh the cons.
I think there are benefits to being able to see downvotes. By looking at the posts & comments of someone who downvoted something, you can come up with an idea of why. Additionally, it can make people think more before handing out a downvote — if you know that people can check that it was you who downvoted, you’re more likely to consider whether you can actually justify your downvote.
But of course, someone could go harassing people who downvote them (e.g., in DMs), and that possibility can make people less likely to downvote at all. I think that with a good block feature, harassment from downvotes won’t be that big an issue, but there’s definitely good reason to hide who downvoted something. I don’t strongly lean either way.
(And as a side note, I really like being able to see who upvoted something as well. It’s just neat info to know tbh, especially in smaller communities.)
Fair points, but I really don’t like that it’s also available to anyone who visits the site, signed in or not.