Just Another Topical Remark About Downvotes (Bonus: A Survival Guide for Steemians)

in #steemit8 years ago (edited)

Can you handle the truth?

The downvote and upvote buttons are there to be pressed. So either one gets pressed. The community is regulated by everyone in the network. Decentralisation. Clash of ideas. Some abuse the function. Some do it for what they think is good for the network. It's part of the design. To avoid getting butthurt over downvotes, don't consider the payout amount to be final before it's finalised and paid out. It's just the same with not counting chickens before the eggs hatch.

Also, here's a guide that I've written 5 months ago:
The Art of Maintaining Reputation: Plan Your Battles and Don't Milk It!


Image from A Clockwork Orange

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The problem is it's not a downvote - it's a flag. That might subconsciously irk anarchy-minded folks as well.

I'm aware there used to be just a downvote next to the upvote in the early days. They should bring that back. Purely positive opinion is boring and unhealthy, there needs to be a way to express a negative opinion. Reddit has used this system for years to great success. As a result, circlejerk type posts, or posts that don't deserve to be high on Hot are dealt with in short order. Of course, the "Controversial" tab surfaces some rather interesting posts that have a lot of upvotes and downvotes.

It'll also stimulate more demand for Steem Power - voting / opinion wars are healthy for the network.

Indeed, although maybe putting it as upvote and downvote near to each other like on Reddit may cause the downvotes to be used more often without much thought.. maybe. well unless expressing negative opinions doesn't affect payout? It's the effect on payout that's causing distress to some users..

I think so, it'll help... It's just a matter of perception. If people realise that a downvote is just that, I'm hoping they'll learn to live with it. It's true that because there's money involved, people would be more upset than on Reddit, but hey, you earn your payout.

And yes, I think a downvote should definitely affect payout, personally. I don't know if the Steemit community will be able to deal with that - I would like to hope so - but so far we have proved to be exceptionally thin-skinned people. It's the question as you pose - "Can we handle the truth"? I don't know...

Nice grab of Alex, by the way :)

"Can we handle the truth"? I don't know...

Most likely not..

Lol, at first I thought this scene was from Terry Gilliam's Brazil, i thought i remember the main character's eyes being pried open in similar fashion.. watched it but just missing that scene somehow..

True, no point in getting butthurt, even though the butt may hurt. And also extremely important point about the estimated payout. I think the steemit.com devs could even distinguish pre-payout values, and I actually raised the issue here, thanks for the prompt.

Rants are not a great way to win people over. But winning people over is also part of the system, because this is a community, and in any community there are informal rules, norms, etc.

In a vibrant (ahem 😅 ) community like this, without central authority, a certain set of rules and norms may never be widely adopted. Some will conflict and compete. Some may just want to watch the world burn. It's all possible. But because we're human and essentially social creatures, appeals will have an effect if well executed, timed and with the right luck.

I think this is the intangible layer between us all and the system.

Which is why my preferred way is to plan things out and not lash out at all.. learn some from tsun tzu art of war haha.. that guy is experienced.

I hear you !!! I can take 3x the truth! Up,Down and All-Around ...

Hahah.. i know you can @mammasitta :) Hey are you around in Asia anytime soon? I might wanna plan some simple trips around would be nice if we can meet up, maybe with others too..

hahah, I know you know I can ....I don't like complainers. Just take it easy and have fun.
I am planning to be back in Indonesia maybe for September but for now I am planning to enjoy Europe spring and summer time, maybe some festivals. You are always welcome in Vienna and stay here anytime. Keep in touch

Nothing wrong to complain anyway.. just dont turn it into some drama..

Oh man.. nice! I'm already missing Amsterdam actually.. great place.

Love your level headed way of looking at issues...but I don't like flagging because someone is making too much profit. I haven't been able to explain why, I understand people can rig the voting system to their advantage. I think that should be addressed. But if a whale favors someone posts, I don't think that's wrong, just because someone disagrees with someone else's favorites shouldn't give them the right to take away their profits.

To accept praises (upvotes), one should also accept criticisms (downvotes). Definitely not wrong getting favoured by some, but there's bound to be disfavour too..

shouldn't give them the right to take away their profits.

But the right is there.. the downvote is there as part of the design..

Your right...I guess, I'm still researching. I'm mean we have the right not to vote and down voting against spam, trolls and such...but I'm still going to ponder the down vote that removes profit.

Ain't a profit until its realized.. :) I understand how such a position can turn into hell though, but that's for another time..

We shall see how this plays out. I bought a pound of popcorn for the event!

I've been popcorning for the past 8 months.. oh did i say i gained like 8 kilograms too.

All I see is a sheep herd mentality and everyone agreeing with a whale to remain on the whale's good side. So they make posts that make it appear it validates what the whale is trying to say.

Doing 4 posts in a day is not taking advantage. Unless the individual who is using bots to autovote is not setting up the right autovoting criteria, then that's their fault for even using autovoting in the first place. So the downvoting wasn't necessary.

You all see it whining because other whales said so. He has a valid point that all he's doing is at most posting 4 times a day and not using bots, not manipulating bot users. So why should he be flagged on his posts? It's no different if another user posts 4 times a day and ends up with high rewards because the whales are the one giving the high payouts.

Nope, I've been having this position since day 1. I agree that he has his points though.

Disagreement with payout is one reason, no matter how inconsistent things may be.

great way to think about it

Hahah that's quite a creepy gif..

With the slider, it's a good reminder of the effect of the downvote. Separating the flag from a downvote would be helpful, IMO. Flag should be reserved for "report this article". Downvote is based on content.
I got downvoted in a comment once. I'm still sore.

Lol. I guess the flag symbol really has something to it... for me it's just a disagreement..

Yeah, and I can accept that. BUT, typically it doesn't. Steemit is basically asking everyone to agree that it doesn't mean the same here as it does just about everywhere else.
On one hand, I really don't care. But, on the other, it does seem like it could solve some problems to separate them.

A quote from one of my posts about spam, flag and mute.
When calculating the actual value of a social network, we have to subtract the number of users that spam, flag and mute.
Attracting and retaining users augments the value of the network.

This post has been ranked within the top 10 most undervalued posts in the second half of Feb 24. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $18.19 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.

See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Feb 24 - Part II. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.

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