When I first found out it was an interesting concept that I was pretty neutral on but the more I engage/lurk with the community the more I enjoy it.
I generally don’t post/comment much on Reddit because I tend to be extremely sincere and that’s not always well received. Usually I don’t get much hate, but what I do get is a lot of non-interaction mixed with downvotes. And it’s just really discouraging when I’m just trying to share my thoughts.
But having no downvotes here is so nice because I’m not afraid that I’m going to get silenced into oblivion. Either people will actually engage with me (and maybe disagree, but in a meaningful way), or they’ll move on and not randomly share their disdain via downvoting.
It’s such a small change but makes a big difference. I bet a lot of people feel the same as me - it’s more comfortable to engage here.
This is one reason why I like it here. What annoyed me on Reddit sometimes was discussing “unpopular opinions”.
For example on my local subreddit people would constantly argue for more housing density, which is great for affordability but any mention of “but what about transportation infrastructure then” got mercilessly downvoted. I really don’t mind people disagreeing in replies but having a whole conversation downvoted and subsequently hidden is annoying. It generally made me not want to comment on Reddit, and just let the hivemind be.