Why YSK? Comments you reply positively to, should definitely get your upvote. Comments you disagree with should be at your discretion. Trolls deserve downvotes (seriously, they live for those). Disagreeing with someone in the midst of a good discussion doesn’t necessarily warrant one, and might deserve an upvote. Even if you don’t reply, but you agree with the comment, give it your vote.
Also, this has nothing to do with propping up folks’ egos. Comments with more upvotes will likely be seen first the longer the post is up. Alternatively, downvoted posts are less likely to be seen unless users are looking for them.
Of course, this can lead to folks accusing communities of having leftist/right-wing bias, but I think overall it improves the usage of the site. Personally, the thing I liked most about Reddit was the conversations in the comments. Usually the ones with the most upvotes were more worth the read & engagement.
Is this not a guide on how best to use sites like lemmy, kbin, reddit, and the like? The software is designed to promote content that’s favored by the users. If the users don’t do their part, it limits the functionality of the software.
Content with more upvotes rose to the top on Reddit, and maybe it does on lemmy, but I’m on kbin and my understanding is that it specifically does not work that way over here. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
I’m sure there are people here with more experience that will be glad helping you comprehend what is and what can be done before you come up preposterously “establishing guidelines”.