Yes, approval is often only expressed as an upvote (which has very little emotional impact) but disagreement comes in the form of a comment, which hits harder.
So often a post will get hundreds of upvotes but the 20 negative comments on it make it seem like everyone hates it. There are many many ways to disagree so people will always find a new issue to bring up.
We have a structural problem, baked into the way the threadiverse works, that makes communities feel more negative and hostile than they are. I’m not sure what to do about that.
Taking away (or limiting) people’s ability to vote doesn’t mean they’ll leave more comments. It just makes the sorting less effective at moving the comments that the most people like to the top of the thread.
We have a structural problem, baked into the way the threadiverse works, that makes communities feel more negative and hostile than they are.
That’s just what happens when you federate with tankies. I’m sure the instances that block hexbear, lemmygrad, and .ml are the most peaceful. Not that they’ll be totally free from trolls, but it’s about numbers.
I prefer comments too — It’s social media, not electoral media
Yeah I find it tedious. An upvote barely expresses anything but the entire Internet is built around chasing this barely anything interaction.
Sometimes I have nothing worth saying or to add but I still want to express appreciation and approval of something.
Yes, approval is often only expressed as an upvote (which has very little emotional impact) but disagreement comes in the form of a comment, which hits harder.
So often a post will get hundreds of upvotes but the 20 negative comments on it make it seem like everyone hates it. There are many many ways to disagree so people will always find a new issue to bring up.
We have a structural problem, baked into the way the threadiverse works, that makes communities feel more negative and hostile than they are. I’m not sure what to do about that.
Taking away (or limiting) people’s ability to vote doesn’t mean they’ll leave more comments. It just makes the sorting less effective at moving the comments that the most people like to the top of the thread.
That’s just what happens when you federate with tankies. I’m sure the instances that block hexbear, lemmygrad, and .ml are the most peaceful. Not that they’ll be totally free from trolls, but it’s about numbers.
https://phys.org/news/2026-08-algorithm-online-negativity-life-users.html
Thanks for sharing.
I think he’s saying that upvoting is a structural problem.
And I’m disagreeing