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Some clarifications about the Downvote

Hi everyone, ✌️

Thank you very much for your feedback in relation to the Downvote. 👎
We totally understand that many/most of you are not happy with it.

However, based on the feedback we're reading, I'd like to clarify some points:

1) If your posts/replies frequently have many good reactions, and sometimes you get 1 or 2 downvotes, out of MANY good reactions, [b]you really shouldn't have to worry[/b]. 👍

2) If there is a user that has been downvoting you in many posts, [b]that user will eventually start seeing less contents from you[/b]. 📉

3) You don't have to worry [b]if a user tries to use multiple accounts to downvote you. Either the system knows about it already, or will know in the future[/b], and that will only go wrong on that user, [u]and never affect you[/u]. 🚩
Only a few users have attempted this so far, and we've sent notifications to those users. The targeted users [u]were not affected[/u] by the fake downvotes.

4) A comment or post will only be pushed down [b]if the amount of downvotes surpass the amount of good reactions[/b] (and only if a [u]minimum[/u] of downvotes was reached, for that to happen). You [u]don't have to worry[/u] about the visibility of your contents being impacted [u]just because of 1 or 2 downvotes, when you got several good reactions[/u] too. 📊

5) Even if a post of yours got more downvotes than good reactions, [b]it doesn't mean that your audience will be impacted on other stories/questions that you post in the future[/b]. It only affects the post that got downvoted. 📚

5) The downvote does have a slight impact on your account reputation, but [b]that impact is VERY negligible[/b]. If you [u]maintain a much higher amount of good reactions, versus the amount of downvotes[/u], [b]your account will NEVER suffer any consequences[/b]. Only accounts who have more downvotes than good reactions are the ones that will be really impacted. 😊

[b]In summary:[/b] You don't have to worry if you get a few downvotes here and there. Only if the amount of downvotes surpasses the amount of good reactions (very rare cases), you would be affected. [b]Only troublemakers will be affected by the downvote.[/b]

I want to apologize again for not being clear in my original post when it was announced.

---

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

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Fishy · F

But...what if they're not trouble makers but just someone with a lot of unpopular opinions?

I mean... Is there a difference between the two?

NerdyPotato · M

@Fishy Even unpopular opinions still get a lot of agreement in my experience because most people who disagree simply scroll past it. So downvotes are unlikely to outweigh other reactions even on that, meaning it's unlikely for there to be consequences for the author. And even if it does, it only affects that post, not everything the author posts next or posted before.

But what if every single post contains an unpopular opinion, so unpopular every single one gets more downvotes than other reactions? This never happened for any post, but what if it does for every one on someone's account in the future? Then the SW community as a whole clearly doesn't want to be confronted with those and they are better off finding a website dedicated to their ideas rather than getting to change the SW algorithm to allow them to stuff their content into the face of people who don't want even a glimpse of it.

Fishy · F

@NerdyPotato

[quote]Then the SW community as a whole clearly doesn't want to be confronted with those and they are better off finding a website dedicated to their ideas rather than getting to change the SW algorithm to allow them to stuff their content into the face of people who don't want even a glimpse of it.[/quote]

But the community as a whole have the block/mute button if they don't want to glimpse at it 👀

NerdyPotato · M

@Fishy those buttons only apply to users, not topics. When an author isn't fixated on a single thing, or people like some of what an author writes but prefers to avoid other things, muting by topic rather than user makes a world of difference for both.

Fishy · F

@NerdyPotato if an individual mutes by topic I'm cool with that because that's their preference,

But from what I understood in the op, it sounds like some people are gonna miss out on posts just because a bunch of other people on sw downvote it ;/

NerdyPotato · M

@Fishy generally the first is what happens. The second may happen in theory, but only if there are more downvotes than hearts, laughs, thumbs up, etc. and even angry faces combined. I've never seen that in practice, not even when people claimed bullying going on.

People are gonna miss out on posts if the majority of a representative portion of the community downvotes something. A few influential people teaming up with their followers don't seem to be able to accomplish that.

Fishy · F

@NerdyPotato yeah, I agree with the first part,
But the second part still doesn't sit right with me, sorry ;/

It still seems to boil down to popular opinion imo

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Fishy · F

@HootyTheNightOwl but if we can now mute by topic, then why is what we see/don't see based on what the the others downvote?

HootyTheNightOwl

@Fishy Not everything is posted in the most applicable group around here...

NerdyPotato · M

@HootyTheNightOwl Maybe other reactions make it more likely to see similar posts. But even if that's not the case, people who downvoted the first few won't see new ones and thus won't downvote those. If even a few people interested in those topics search for them and heart what they find, there will easily be more hearts than downvotes, making those posts show up again for everyone who didn't downvote anything similar. I think that will balance itself out fairly quickly for those interested, without bothering people who opted out.

Fishy · F

@HootyTheNightOwl yeah, I understand if someone downvotes content they don't like and THEY don't see it anymore, and I'm cool with that...

But what doesn't sit right with me is if something is downvoted enough it will prevent others from seeing it even if they want to see it...

Y'know, because different people like/dislike different things?

NerdyPotato · M

@Fishy I understand, but keep in mind that too many downvotes hide all similar content to downvoters, but only that particular post for everyone. A second similar post starts out neutral again, is shown to everyone who didn't downvote the first and will gather a similar number of positive reactions as the first. But because it is not shown to people who downvoted the first, those won't downvote the second. A logical result is that the second post will have a more positive ratio between downvotes and other reactions and won't be hidden from everyone.

This feature may limit your reach for a few posts, but soon eliminate the people causing newer posts to be limited, assuring those will have maximum meaningful reach again.

HootyTheNightOwl

@Fishy Once the feature kicks in as designed and they start to see less content from a member, it should balance back out - unless it is a member that is posting content so questionable that the downvotes continue between the odd member or four.

Fishy · F

@NerdyPotato @HootyTheNightOwl well if that's the case then that doesn't sound too bad,

Only time will tell I guess 😅