I woke up today, to a public comment in a Lemmy community asking a series of tagged accounts why they had downvoted certain posts

I thought that reactions to posts and comments are anonymous and now I don’t really know what to feel about Lemmy any more.

In this case I had downvoted a poster because of its design, but was confronted publicly for being racist because the person assumed that I downvoted the message on the poster

EDIT: changed the title from “How” to “Why” because it broke rule nr 5 about it being a support question

  • cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldOP
    131·
    7 hours ago

    Downvoting is a mental disorder

    I feel like this is what upvotes and down votes are for though. Expressing that you agree, like, or don’t like what someone is doing, or saying is not a mental disorder. I have been on the internet long enough, to know that starting a discussion about something, is almost never really worth it. I do feel that I should be able to join in on a general sentiment of approve or disapprove on a platform like this.

    Should you have a right to leave an anonymous message on his car about the style of his shirt?

    You compare online behavior with real life, and this is not relevant. But to put it into context, I see upvotes and down votes more like cheering or booing in a sports game. It’s just an expression of what you feel for the content. A reaction. You wouldn’t explain why you are booing at the opposing team when they score a goal

    • anamethatisnt@sopuli.xyz
      3·
      7 hours ago

      I feel like this is what upvotes and down votes are for though. Expressing that you agree, like, or don’t like what someone is doing, or saying is not a mental disorder. I have been on the internet long enough, to know that starting a discussion about something, is almost never really worth it. I do feel that I should be able to join in on a general sentiment of approve or disapprove on a platform like this.

      This is something where everyone has their own personal idea of what the votes are for. I was taught to think of the votes as relevant (on topic)/irrelevant (off topic) when I first encountered the system.