We have just released a Downvote button. It can be found in the same place of the Reactions.
This reaction is invisible to users, including the owner of the post.
However, it is possible to know how many downvotes a post or comment has.
If it is anonymous/invisible, what is the point of it?
Please note that downvoting a Post or a Comment will cause a penalty to the other user's post.
Downvoting a post gives the message to SW that this specific Post is not good.
Getting too many downvotes will cause the Post/Comment to be pushed down (less visibility).
There is NO Meaningful Penalty that is inflicted upon other users, by Downvoting their posts. There will be very negligible impact on any internal "User Reputation" metrics. Even much less impact than "Reporting" a user (which has existed since the beginning of SW).
Abuse, misuse or manipulation
Users are not allowed to abuse, misuse or manipulate Reaction and Downvote features, whether manually, programmatically or otherwise. This includes using multiple accounts to react/downvote, or asking people to react/downvote, or forming or joining a group that reacts/downvotes together.
Abuse or misuse of the Downvote may end up in your account being penalized and limited. We will be alerted of any suspicions of abuse and manipulation attempts.
Downvote vs. Upset Reaction
Downvote has a different meaning to the "Upset" reaction. Downvote means you Dislike the Post/Comment itself. Upset means you are unhappy with the story/news, etc... and causes no bad impact to the user who posted it.
---
Thank you for your support and we hope you continue to stay with us.
We are constantly listening to your suggestions, so please keep giving them to us, as they are very important to the future of Similar Worlds.
Very kind regards, 🧡 - The SW Team
=== UPDATE ===
Alright everyone - I apologize for not being clear on my post above. What I meant with:
"Getting too many downvotes will cause account restrictions (just like Abuse Reports do)" (which I've removed from my post above, to avoid confusion to other readers)
was more to tell that the Downvote is a "negative reaction", as Reports are also a "negative feature".
My initial intention was to tell those users who were asking to be downvoted, and others who were downvoting their posts, that doing so could cause an impact on the other user's account reputation.
However, Downvoting is in no way as harsh as Reporting is! (I apologize for the confusion)
We will for sure not allow misuse/manipulation either way, but no one will be suspended from Similar Worlds just because a post got 10 downvotes, for example. (unless, of course, the post was highly offensive, which in that case should be Reported to us)
1) There is "NO Meaningful Penalty" that is inflicted upon other users, by Downvoting their posts.
2) The user of "Down-voting" is heavily limited, even if one were to attempt abusing the feature via "Multiple accounts".
3) Down-voting is meant more as a "Dissociation" feature, for improved relevance in user feeds.
If a user is posting a lot of "junk" or bad topics that you do not like, Disliking their post, will cause you to slowly see LESS of that user's content, over time.
There will be VERY Negligible impact on any internal "User Reputation" metrics.
Even much less impact than "Reporting" a user (which has existed since the beginning of SW).
Please don't mistake this "Down-vote" feature as a way to easily penalize and limit other users.
It will mostly only cause users to see less of the content they don't like, and it may reduce conflicts in the long-run, by creating a bit more distance between conflicting users.
We suggest the use of:
👎 Down-vote Reaction - in the cases where you strongly Dislike a user's post or intent behind a post.
😡 Upset Reaction - in cases where you are Upset about an incident / topic / story, rather than being upset with the posting user themselves.
@Punches To be honest I ain't 100% sure but if downvote totals up in the same way as all the other emojis do but I'm thinking it probably will do so.... Lets say someone's post was liked/hearted whatever you wanna call it 10 times, to the right of that number it will have some emojis so lets say its been liked 10 times and it has a heart, a smiley face and a downvote straight after the total. What that tells us is some of that 10 were hearts some were smiley faces and some were downvotes. What it doesn't tell us though is how many of each they have. They might have 2 hearts, 7 smiley faces and 1 downvote. Or they might have 1 heart 1 smiley face and 8 downvotes. The 10 is simply overall figure.
What makes this very confusing is for years you could only heart stuff and the heart emoji is usually the first one in the configuration of emojis, so we still see it as total number of hearts but it's now actually total number of emoji responses followed by whatever emojis the total consists of.
To be fair, I'm doubtful the downvotes would really of been massively high either but that unpopular post, might well of had more than you first thought 乂ᴼ◡ᴼ乂
This is a terrible idea. It will be used as a weapon and will negatively impact members. If you don’t like someone’s post, ignore it or comment your dislike, don’t hide behind an anonymous downvote. If a post violates the TOS, report it. Why create an anonymous downvote that will only be misused?
@Confined And you'll still do it, even though you know it'll cause that persons post to be pushed down the feed? Why are you so bothered by someones elses opinion that you'd do it to every post you disagree with?
@Redstar That is exactly what it will be used for. Downvote the people you don't like as soon as you see their question. Don't just scroll by, don't mute that person so you won't be bothered by their content. NO, downvote them every chance you get or until you reach your daily limit. This will give SW information they can feed into a computer. Then they can anal-yze what Karen thinks and what can be done about it. You can slowly get voted off the site without ever seeing one downvote. SW does not want us to see who's attacking us.
@Nuno So you're actively supporting people who will intentionally downvote something, just because they don't like it, or the person (some will downvote a post without even reading it), thereby effecting that persons experience on this site because their posts will get pushed down, even though they actually did nothing wrong to deserve it.
So it IS just another report feature just exponentially more arbitrary and less oversighted.
That's a shit implementation Nuno. The reporting and restrictions are already a cluster fuck here because of the lack of research and moderators looking into the history and context of reports. Bad idea to bring a punishment with it.
Plus, I'm fucked now. A lot of the douchenozzle cliques are going to be ganging up with this.
People who don't abuse those they disagree with won't use it
Exactly. I've never blocked or muted anyone, I've reported but only if the person is really abusive to begin with which is rarely. So I won't use the downvote, I'm not the passive aggressive type to begin with. The whole downvote thing is just way passive aggressive and not my personality.
Sadly, this is disappointing. The last site implemented the downvote and almost instantly removed it because people immediately started using it to group bully posters they personally disliked, regardless of the post’s content. 😞
@MethDozer And has the added risk of getting a user who’s thread I don’t like getting in trouble, which I don’t want. So I won’t use it… when it could have actually been a cool feature.
@SW-User Honeslty I think it’s to cut down on the amount of reports they get. It’s still a way of expressing dislike and they prob feel people need to get that out of their system rather than making a report about it.
@Nuno I don’t care what methods you’ve implemented in your programming to track this. It can’t psychologically read members of this site and it cannot differentiate a hive mind that finds a post offensive from several completely separate users who did. There’s no way to know this without personally understanding the motives of each downvote which can’t be done. This feature was strange, but people would have been fine until they realized there’s consequences to it. Now no one is happy because foul play can happen no matter how you’ve tried to stop it.
It can’t psychologically read members of this site and it cannot differentiate a hive mind that finds a post offensive from several completely separate users who did. There’s no way to know this without personally understanding the motives of each downvote which can’t be done.
I appreciate the idea behind this, but it seems that people will just use it to downvote a perfectly appropriate post which expresses an opinion with with the downvoter disagrees. Thus, people will unfairly get penalties. Will there be safeguards against "spurious downvoting" (even if a person is not guilty of "over-using" the downvote, in terms of frequency of use).
@Nuno ran out of my down votes on your comments alone.
This is a BAD idea. Other people have pointed it out, I don't need to explain why it's bad. So many helpful comments you have flat out ignored or given a stock response to.
You guys are running this place to the ground. The sorting is still shit and I can't find my favorite groups anymore. You don't listen to your customers/users either and it is beyond frustrating. It's like a master class in how to destroy a social website. Whatever communities that were built you literally destroyed and are now making dang sure no new communities will be built.
I'm sorry Nuno .... but I sincerely believe that there was no overwhelming request volume for a downvote .... it's divisive and does nothing to unite the community as opposed to dividing it ... users have every opportunity to express their displeasure with a post ... blocking, muting and god forbid, even a comment on the post expressing that displeasure. This is a terrible idea ... you should really reevaluate this decision.
@AllAboutLaffs I will say that there was probably people asking for a "downvote" feature, but not at all in the way it has now been implemented. Probably something along the lines of a thumbs down or a middle finger reaction (something that isn't just angry face reaction)... but the admins decided to add their own spin to it.
Whether those alternative reactions would have been a good idea I suppose is debatable too, but what they have done is tons worse.
@AllAboutLaffs I agree with you it will divide, not unite. I will never downvote anyone because that is so mean, but I will have hundreds of downvotes daily because I have unpopular opinions. It won't deter bold people like me, but it will maybe discourage shy people from posting and that is sad.
This is the only feature I've ever disagreed with. It's not a good idea. I get that abuse/misuse can result in an account being penalized/limited, BUT, in the meantime, I don't find it fair for an option to downvote posts/comments when we all know that there will be many using this feature just to lash out and/or attack someone they've never gotten along with, agreed with, or plain just do not like. We already have a mute and block feature. I feel that should have been enough. If an user doesn't like someone, their posts, etc., the option is there to just mute which is quite simple. This gives me bad vibes. Too many users will now have their accounts unfairly impacted. 👎
@Nuno A long night for sure... and weekend...and month... and rest of year. I know what this feature does to other sites and their members. Not playing the game.
. Transparency is best. I don't like this at all. If someone thinks a post is wrong the original poster should see who it is, you show us who likes our posts but not those who don't? 💩
This is not a good feature. It means if someone has views on something that the majority of people disagree with and people downvote they will be penalised for it. It's unfair and will cause people to not write things in case it upsets others even though their opinion may be correct, and out of fear that they will be penalised for it and have restrictions on their account.
It basically sounds like you're saying "don't go against the grain or we'll penalise you for it". No more freedom of speech.
I'm completely one hundred percent against this feature.
You keep saying you hope we stay, but it feels like you’re trying to get us to break up with you. A few might like this, but mostly I just see vindictive downvoting you won’t be able to prevent or be fair about. We have block and mute to customize our experience without affecting another’s right to be. We have reports for those bad apples that show up in every bunch. Why is this not enough? Nobody needs the power to minimize or drive anyone else away based on their whims or personal preferences.
We have block and mute to customize our experience without affecting another’s right to be.
Exactly. And if they wanted to allow us to further customize how our personal feeds show they could have just had a "see less of this content" button instead of a feature. Simple as that. No need to shame people or add further negativity. There's already enough negativity on this site.
near the bottom it says they hope we continue to stay.
They've said lately a lot that they want to grow the site. Considering how this venture is going it would seem they hope we stay, but it doesn't matter even if it costs the majority of the current userbase so long as they can grow. You know, the concept of being okay sacrificing 50 of your current users to gain 65 new ones for a net growth of 10 users. Numbers are obviously not accurate, but the point gets across. Feels like it is all about net gain whatever the cost.
No......completely unnecessary. Not a fan of sites that allow downvotes.It’s open to abuse. Upvotes are different.Use those on other sites I’m on. But I have never downvoted a post and I won’t be doing it here. Hope the membership collectively come out against this.
Seriously, I agree with most of the criticism of doing this and have nothing to add. I do recognize and appreciate the time and effort you and the team have put into making this a better place. Most of the changes you all have made have been for the better. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them.
You are opening Pandora's Box. You are injecting unnecessary negativity into the community. Haters can now start their downvoting orgies, without giving any reasons WHY they dislike something. Just thumbs down to anything they disapprove of. And they can do it the rat way, secretly and anonymously, the victim doesn't even know. And of course there will be downvote wars in a tit for tat.
Maybe I should stop posting my anti-racist rants because they might get me too many downvotes in the future? Maybe I should delete some of my older posts? Or maybe I should just delete my account and find another platform?
SW has always been, essentially, a friendly and helpful community, and providing the few unpleasant individuals with a loaded gun is not a good idea. Please reconsider. Thank you. 🌷
@ArtieKat Maybe I should stop posting my anti-racist rants because they might get me too many downvotes in the future? Maybe I should delete some of my older posts? 😐
Downvoting shouldn't be anonymous, as that just lends the feature to abuse. I think this is a terrible idea, and makes me wonder what you were thinking when you thought this might somehow be a positive thing. I won't use it because I don't believe in hiding while saying something that can be deemed negative. This just encourages bullying and trolling, especially when combined with the fact that many of the bullies/trolls have multiple accounts. This is far and away the worst thing that has ever been done to the site. You screwed this one up.
SW-User
So...you want people to quit this site. That's the message I am getting. What crap
OK Nuno .... your "explanation" has been up for a little over 30 minutes ...
I hope you're listening to the user base as you claim .... the majority of comments here are against the downvote .... please remove it ... respect your users
@JustGoneNow he said they won’t allow for misuse of the “downvote” button. How many “Downvotes” is too many? There are a lot of posts I could certainly downvote because I don’t want to see them.
@iamonfire696 ha ha. Just delete them sweetie. You have all the power there. It just lets us as a community decide what has relevance in the feed. That’s way different then what I first understood.
There is already the ability to report a post/comment. It requires a little thought and is harder to abuse.
This is just making this process easier for people and there are going to be people who misunderstand it's intent and may be accused of abusing it when, in fact, they are just upset by something.
Like someone else posted... why fix something that ain't broke?
SW-User
@Nuno I don't see a single positive response to this announcement.. Think about that.
Why encourage negativity? It's another means for someone to hide behind and gang up on others. You do a lot of good on here as admin but recent changes have been mindless.
Bud, I like SW because it gives me an outlet to express how I'm feeling without having to always compete for attention all the time. You guys aren't Reddit and I don't want you to be. ❤️
@LunadelobosIAMTHEDRAGON Hope so. If this site had opened with upvotes and downvotes there would be no argument.Even R2T had that, But we’ve been here with hearts and recently other options since SW opened. We all know ,despite assurances,some will downvote for the hell of it.And apparently that will impact on our reputations here.Big mistake.
I tend to come from the if it ain’t broke don’t fix it camp. And SW has been busily fixing things that weren’t broken. I must have missed the clamour for a downvote button.
@LunadelobosIAMTHEDRAGON This caters to the Bad People on this site but if you read all the comments SW will go through with it no matter what the users want.
@LunadelobosIAMTHEDRAGON They say they can stop people from using multiple accounts to attack people using the down button. Oh Really, you can stop people with multiple accounts from attacking people???????
My main concern is that it could be used to prevent depressed/suicidal people from posting by limiting their account. It could also be used to maliciously get accounts of members that some cliques don't agree with blocked just because the option exists to do so... at least let us know that there is a human reviewing this feature before any limiting takes place.
I'm disliked enough around here to know that I will get downvoted simply for trolling people to get them to block me. I don't much like the idea of getting my ability to post restricted just because I want to save my blocks and get some ass to block me.
Ok this is about the worst idea I have ever seen SW have. So someone can cause a penalty on someone’s account for any reason they want?? That can’t be right can it
You have asked us time and again if we wanted this, and the majority have always said no, but you are so hellbent on these initiatives of yours that you are ramming them down our throats. Keep on saying “we hope you continue to stay with us…”, and eventually - people will wonder why they are. Sorry guys. These latest wholesale changes are bombs 💣
@Pitchblue I don’t give them that much credit. EP was run the same way. They started changing everything that made sense and was well liked and before you know it, three years later they were gone.
Doesn’t anonymous reports do the same thing? I’m sorry. I’m just not understanding the difference, if they both cause account restrictions. I’m just trying to understand.
@DrWatson More than that. If it doesn’t break TOS, why would it cause account restrictions. That just seems to be a way to group bully unpopular opinions. That doesn’t sound good. But I want to be fair, so maybe I just don’t understand.
@DrWatson yeah. I got people who’s opinion I just don’t like. A downvote button to push the thread down popularity wise would be cool, but I don’t want those same people to have account restrictions, they didn’t do anything wrong… no violation of TOS. They still have a right to speak their opinion that I really don’t like. I’d be too scared to use the downvote now… I’ll just stick to the current reports until I get better clarification on this new feature works.
maybe just a regular downvote thats not hidden and wont tick off the reporting system i feel like new users would mistake it for a disagree reaction and press it even when its not something breaking tos sounds more like a reporting feature instead of a reaction.
