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.
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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)
I hope this clarifies some bits.
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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).
@DrWatson As we say in the post above, abuse/manipulation is not allowed. There are strict limitations that should prevent abuse. We will also be notified when the system detects users trying to manipulate through multiple accounts, etc.
@Nuno Yes, but I am talking about something different. What if I see a post that expresses a political or religious view I do not like, and I downvote it. I am not manipulating the feature at all. But that would still be unfair to the user I downvoted. (Or, maybe I am misunderstanding what "manipulate" means in this context.)
Maybe you would set our minds at rest if you could explain what the criteria for 'abuse" would be. Or, what do you envision the appropriate criteria for downvoting something (other than saying it is "not good"). If a post does not violate the TOS, why should the user get restrictions on their account, simply because the user is unpopular with certain other users?
I am trying to defend the very people who express things I dislike here.
@DrWatson Heated discussions on controversial topics like abortion or vaccination are likely to result in significant downvotes going both ways for people that don't like the other's views. Over time, that will just get people suspended or banned for having deeply held beliefs that others do not agree with.
@QuixoticSoul And to clarify: "mass downvoting" does not mean "organized downvoting." A controversial post might get a lot of downvotes spontaneously, and the user will receive restrictions unfairly.
@DrWatson Organized downvoting doesn’t seem to be against the rules either. Just as long as multiple users are doing it and not alts.
Edit: oh wait - I see that it does. Still, it needs to be remarkably formal to become against the rules. People have already formed camps here, no need for overt collusion.
@QuixoticSoul may have just been edited in, but organized downvoting seems to be considered abuse.
That's going to be interesting to try to track. I mean, imagine content like antivax propaganda which is harmful. If the same people think it is harmful and downvote anything antivax - how do we know if they are organizing to do it or if it is just the same group reacting the same way to other similar posts?
@ViciDraco We already have fairly well defined camps that upvote each other out of solidarity. It’s not organized, it just happens - if you have vip it’s pretty obvious.
Heated discussions on controversial topics like abortion or vaccination are likely to result in significant downvotes going both ways for people that don't like the other's views. Over time, that will just get people suspended or banned for having deeply held beliefs that others do not agree with.
@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.
