I’m very curious about the reasoning different people use when deciding to downvote a post or comment. Often, when something gets “heavily” downvoted, the OP will ask some variation of “why the downvotes?”. This is sometimes answered with sincere criticism, but sometimes is received even more poorly than the original offending post.
Do you downvote people who ask “why the downvotes?”? What informs the decision?
Depends heavily on context. If the trolling is obvious then I consider the question just part of the trolling.
When someone asks why the downvotes, as I often do (and I do this for comments that aren’t even mine when I don’t understand why they get downvoted) I try to give as much context as possible as to why I don’t understand the comment was wrong.
Downvotes generally have two reasons: the comment is factually incorrect, or the comment comes across as rude/aggressive/inappropriate. (Sometimes a downvoted comment is both, but this is irrelevant to this explanation since you need to have at least one of the two).
So when asking I’ll try to figure out first which one it is. If I don’t know shit about the topic, then it’s likely factually incorrect, so I start my question with, "sorry I don’t know shit about this, can someone explain why the downvotes? " Etc.
The second one can be trickier since it requires social context knowledge and to interpret the tone of the message. You are more likely to get downvoted here, so when I do I brace myself for it. But I also try to explain as much as possible where my blindspot is. You can also pull it off, but you are dealing with commenters who are riled up and not thinking calmly. And there is a good chance the reason boils down to an irreconcilable difference in values, so you will still get downvoted.
Gee I didn’t realize I would end up typing this much ok bye
or the comment is just stupid and irrelevant.
or it puts forth a argument that’s coherent but ultimately stupid theorizing, like conspiracy nonsense does.
both which i guess fall in the ‘bullshit’ classification.
This would be the second category I mentioned, an inappropriate or rude comment.
This would be in the first category I mentioned, a factually incorrect comment
I see you replied to me but quoted another user, and I’m not sure I understand the relevance of the quote in your reply
I am a fan of the long comment, it is deeply appreciated ❤️
I too sometimes ask about downvotes on other people’s comments, but it feels a bit like bursting into a room and asking everyone to stop and take a survey so I try to be judicious about it. Usually it’s pretty self-explanatory but every so often I come across a real mystery.
Glad to know.
Maybe. I don’t know. I would definitely feel bursting into a room for a survey can be annoying, especially if frequently. But asking online, no. You aren’t really interrupting anything, or forcing anyone to answer. People are here already looking to engage one way or another. If you upset someone, well, they just downvote and move on haha.