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So, coming from the world of RIF where downvotes haven't been a thing for quite some time:
what are downvotes for in Lemmy?
What am I expressing when I downvote?
I don't agree with the post? I don't want the post to gain notoriety? I don't like the sentiment or the way it's expressed (even if it's factually true)?
Help!
At the end of the day, a downvote boils down to "this should be less visible". Everything else is just prescription or assumption.
Self-validation/relief.
Downvotes weren't a thing in Reddit is Fun? I definitely remember downvoting things using RIF right until the end.
To me, I will downvote things that do not deserve any visibility. Such as things that are factually wrong, things that don't contribute, overplayed jokes, hateful posts,...
Think I mist be losing my mind, was it just certain subreddits that didn't do downvotes? Anyway, thanks for the answer.
This is some mandela effect shit, you definitely could downvote on rif up to the last day
In addition to what the other user said: some subs were hiding the downvote buttons through their custom subreddit styles. You'd only see this if you used old.reddit though and if you disabled the css (or used an app like RiF) you could downvote as normal.
Maybe that's where your confusion started.
Down votes are and always will be "I don't like this thing." Any attempts to make it mean more will always devolve back to this.
This is sadly the most realistic answer.
Imo it's not sad. Just reality
Reality can be (and often is) very sad indeed.
A riddle for you. If you have two, you are normal. If you have one you are generous, if you have none you are dead, and if you have three you are a criminal. What is this?
The healthiest way to use downvote is to downvote off-topic comments and posts. Don't vote up or down stuff you disagree with. Report trolls and flamebait
Kidneys
If you have three, you're a donation recipient.
They don't always remove the old one.
If you have none, you could be on a dialysis machine permanently and still alive. I think.
Down votes are for poor quality posts and comments. They are not for things you disagree with unless it's also a bad post. It's also for community enforcement of rules and norms.
Examples: "Hitler did nothing wrong"... Down votes and report to moderators.
What about Obama violating the Constitution killing Americans without due process. He stayed president so Trum can to. - down vote and explain the logical fallacy.
Pink and magenta are the same color! - down vote because it's factually wrong.
Thomas Kinkade is a great artist! And here is why ... - up vote and comment on why you disagree and try to encourage discussion.
Skunks smell good! - up vote and discuss how some people have generic difference that make skunks not smell as bad.
So, coming from the world of RIF where downvotes haven’t been a thing for quite some time
Not sure what you mean by this, I used RiF and that still had downvotes. Downvotes are generally used for low effort content, people trying to troll or are intentionally rude. Just generally content you don't want to see and does not fit in with the community you're in. It's not a disagree button.
Thank you buddy, think I'm going crazy, was sure I'd not seen a downvote button of RIF for a long time.
You might have disabled it in the settings I think