"Question About Downvotes"
I guess I still don't understand what downvotes are for... I THOUGHT that they were like flags, where you downvote something to show abuse or rule-breaking or negative behavior. (Like being ticketed for breaking the law.)
But I've been getting lots of downvotes lately (as in four on my last six or seven posts), and I haven't broken any rules. I tag properly, I use only art or photos that I create, I don't beg for upvotes or follows,...I just write my stories, share my drawings, and blog about what I'm doing and thinking---same as always. AND, I spend a lot of time editing my posts to try to catch as many spelling, grammar, flow, and logic errors as I can. I'm usually proud of what I post (even if it's silly.)
And, granted, the downvotes have all been from lower reputation accounts, so they haven't really affected payouts much, if at all, but it's still odd.
Is downvoting just because you don't LIKE something an acceptable behavior? I mean, I don't like LOTS of stuff: country music, gardening tips, football, alternative "health foods" and so on, but I don't go around downvoting everything that I find uninteresting. I just figure, "It's not for me, but some people like it, I guess," and I move on.
But am I missing the point on downvotes? Should I be finding posts about stuff that I find uninteresting and use my downvotes on those, even if they are following all the "rules" and proper etiquette, just to make sure I'm using my downvotes?
(To be honest, I've never used a downvote... It seems rude to me...)
So that's my query. Are downvotes about violation and social control, or are they about personal opinion and aesthetics? When is it appropriate to downvote?
---Richard F. Yates
Posted using Partiko Android
Basically, a downvote is appropriate for any reason the user deems necessary. The main use of downvotes recently has centered around using them to police content receiving rewards far outside the norm: somebody posting a single picture with a sentence or two getting rewarded with $40-worth of curation (an outsize payment for such limited work), or to counteract the use of bidbots or whale self-voting where the user is seen to have artificially inflated the value of their own content beyond a reasonable means.
I've had content downvoted before for no reason at all, by the self-proclaimed Anti-Steemit Defense League, by people who disagreed with what I wrote, or sometimes by accident. This new HardFork gives everybody both an Upvote pool and a Downvote pool, so expect to see the downvotes flying now that people can do a thumbs-down without sacrificing their ability to earn off an upvote curation.
Just the way things are going to be around here for a bit, I imagine. :)
Like all things in this decentralized Wild West, a downvote is whatever you want it to be! That being said, the core reasons you list and agree with are the commonly accepted anticipated uses. Throughout the history of the blockchain (and what I’m assuming is happening in your case) there have been individuals who have taken such offense at being downvoted that they go on a crusade to indiscriminately downvote everyone possible in retaliation. Some think that they can thereby expose this “flaw” in the system and get the entire ability to downvote removed from the blockchain. In most cases the mass flagging reaction these folks display clearly illuminates the reason they themselves were downvoted in the first place... they’re assholes! Do your best to pay their votes no mind and take no personal offense.
I personally agree with the legitimate cases for downvotes that you talk about, but I wouldn’t necessarily think ill of someone who used them just on stuff they didn’t enjoy. I wouldn’t ever see myself using the downvote in such a scenario on a creative work, but could be motivated to downvote articles that I felt contained outright misinformation. The intent wouldn’t be to censor, but simply my judgment that I feel the latest “proof” of a flat earth may not be deserving of monetary reward!
👍
~Smartsteem Curation Team
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People are using their downvotes when they see posts on that have used bid bots. If you don't want downvotes, stop using bid bots? If the downvoters have no SP, it doesn't matter much.
Personally, I've never used a bid bot. (My Steem wallet should back that up.) It seems like cheating to me.
Posted using Partiko Android