I have heard a few different strategies for this. For example “Upvote everything, even if you disagree with it, if it contributes to discussion”. But my concern with this strategy is that it means the first posted comments just get upvoted the highest regardless of their quality relative to other comments (as all comments which contribute to discussion get upvoted).

So, my questions for lemmy:

  1. How do you hand out upvotes and why?
  2. If somebody could leave you a tip on your comment or post if they liked it (3c, $1, whatever), would you be interested in that functionality? Nostr has this and I find it pretty fun. I would hand out tips here but there is no functionality for it.
  • @[email protected]English
    2•5 months ago

    Upvote for relevance and quality of the content.
    Downvote for irrelevance or bad vibes.

    The problem I’ve had with Reddit for so long is people using the arrows for agree / disagree. This does not promote discussion or interesting ideas. This often promotes comments that are irrelevant to the story people are commenting on. If I read a headline, I want the top comments to expand upon and contribute to that story.

    Example: the headline might be about the decline of people eating apples. The highest voted comment might be a smartass comment about how red delicious is not delicious. But the article is actually an in depth report on the affects of climate change on apple production increasing the costs to consumers while processed foods have become more popular.

    The amount of garbage on Reddit is just unreal. And now they’re training AI with it. All because people use the voting system improperly. Using my example, AI now believes apples are less popular because they’re not delicious. When people use an AI search engine, they’re not getting the true story.

    I will absolutely upvote someone I disagree with. It’s rare but if they have an interesting thing to contribute while displaying knowledge of a subject, I’m all here for that. Genuine engagement with people we disagree with is how we all partake in poking holes in our echo chambers.

    It’s an increasingly fine line but I don’t see these forums as social media. Ranking things by agreement or popularity feels like social media to me.

    If you’re interested in a reward system, check out minds.com. Although, since it’s inception, this platform has become a cesspool or right wing extremism. It’s sad what it’s become.