Topic: I think the thumbs down button was a mistake

@RR529 Personally I always just ignore people who come off as being very argumentative and aggressive, but that doesn't stop them from downvoting me.

@JayJ
I oftenly heard that i got downvoted for whatever i said on any post.
Some users here are really hate me.

@Anti-Matter Yeah I think you kind of get bullied around here from time to time simply because you sometimes standout for having a different opinion from the herd. I have had to deal with that on occasion myself but there's a number of users who seem to really lay into you quite often. I would like to see that kind of behavior go away and I think the visible dislike count fuels the negativity towards some users around here.

I'm just quoting this because I agree.

@JayJ I'm not sure I agree, in terms of the reason we have that 5+ cap is that you never know the actual figure... we thought if people saw it'd had 5+ they might not bother to click because enough other people have. That said, I'm happy to experiment and I've removed the count from dislikes and will monitor things to see if it makes any kind of difference.

@Anti-Matter you do get downvoted a lot and whilst I agree with the others that you sometimes get picked on for having a (valid) different opinion, a lot of the time it's because your comments are out of context of the article, or are completely against the point of the article and people get frustrated with them. I've tried to explain to you before to perhaps think more carefully before you comment, as you seem to have a habit of trying to comment on every article

@JayJ I have actually seen posts from him that are highly upvoted and the dislikes are below 5. But that is like 1% of the time. It ok to have an opinion but it is NOT ok to push it EVERYWHERE just to be seen and noticed. repeating the same stuff over and over will guarantee downvotes and that is okay.

When I see a post that is NOT in the right place and it is just for attention, I just report it with "If you don't have anything useful to say ...". That helps more than downvotes.

Wouldn't getting rid of the downvotes create an even bigger echo chamber? For instance I am one of the few people here who appreciate EA sports and Call of Duty. I find it annoying getting downed when simply mentioning I'd rather have call of duty than a free to play port. That said the downvotes also let me disagree with some Nintendo apologists who defend everything and anything Nintendo such as their lack of native voice chat, messaging, lag, etc.... I dunno.

Well he didn’t remove the downvotes, he just hid the counter.

I was wondering what was happening, I thought there might have been some redevelopment on the site. I'd see people addressing posts that weren't actually visible, I know they had a system on Eurogamer where comments that were heavily downvoted had a "comment downvoted - click to view" to see what all the fuss was about. Click, urggggh not this again, close. It's a way of getting rid of attention seekers, derailers and overdramatic meltdown merchants which can break up decent dialogue in the comment sections (of which there's plenty on this site).

@antdickens I’d just like to register my appreciation for the counter being removed! It still keeps the basically functionality of being able to being able to register displeasure with something that isn’t technically breaking the community guidelines, but somewhat counteracts the ‘mob mentality‘ aspect of knowing your downvotes are contributing to some sort of group pile-on. Basically, the functionality is preserved without the exhibitionism of knowing you’re publicly demoting someone, which I think can only be a good thing from a community perspective.

I mean, it’s early days, but with the current system it feels like hitting the dislike button is akin to saying “I personally don’t like this”, where before there was a element of “c’mon guys, let’s bring this guy down!”. Or at least that’s how it felt to me. Hopefully this’ll help create an (at least somewhat) less hostile atmosphere in the comment section!

Thank you very much for hiding the dislike counter! <3. Felt like it gives the implications that opinions are bad if you have a high dislike count and your opinion doesn't belong here if its not in favor of the herd.

Personally I don't think there is any point to having a dislike counter at all with no count. I see the same issue on YouTube. Someone can post a horrific comment that is technically within content guidelines but still otherwise cruel and rude. With the meaningless dislike button that shows no dissent, it can appear that lots of people agree with it and no one opposes it. Then people reply and it starts and arguments and all those replies only draw more attention to the initial cruel and rude comment.

I think if you're going to remove the counter, just remove the button and only have the report button for people who break the community rules.

I'm also glad the dislike count has been hidden. I know that won't stop all abuse, but I do hope that it'll deter it. I'd say it's a happy medium for now pending any new/further developments.

@Anti-Matter I highly disagree with some of the downvotes you receive, particularly in innocent articles like the What Games Are You Playing This Weekend? comment sections where you're just listing off what you're playing. I may not be into what you're playing that particular weekend, but downvoting comments that contain games I don't care for seems like a waste of time IMO....If they aren't just members of your Anti-Anti-Matter patrol who just downvote everything you post to begin with.

That said, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I have no problem with your opinions - though I do wish you'd give some game franchises a fair chance that contain small elements you may not like, but are easily avoided...again, it's up to you - but you do tend to get pretty confrontational sometimes with people who don't share them. Some people have even joked with you about some of those things in what I'd term is a good-natured way, but I think you misunderstood those meanings. Granted, I know all too well that text without any non-speaking contexts that we have in real-life conversations can be hard to interpret sometimes. Take it from someone who has trouble reading people's intentions on a fairly normal basis.

I do generally agree with the comments above that reference how you comment in some articles. If there's nothing you can add to the conversation (Granted, while some of my own comments are serious, other times I just go for some humor), then you might be better off just not commenting. I don't normally even click into articles that don't interest me unless I have some time to kill.

The above text wall isn't meant to make fun of you in any way and is meant to help you. I just want you to understand that others are as entitled to their opinions as you are to your own, and clashing with some other users on them as often as you sometimes do might be leaving some bad impressions.

@antdickens Wow thanks a lot for listening! I am glad you are willing to try that out! Hopefully this helps. I figure it couldn't hurt, at the very least it will be less of an enjoyment thing for some people so it might be more useful for it's intended purpose. In any case I am impressed at how quick and considerate your response has been.

I don’t think it makes sense to still have the like counter but not the dislike counter. I mean a poster can’t see their dislikes and comments aren’t hidden if they are disliked but now it looks like a lopsided echo chamber. People don’t only like positive comments and now it looks like everything is well liked no matter what which includes band wagoning. I do wish the mods/filters were more on top of the profanity though more than anything.

@Ryu_Niiyama Likes have no negative consequences. But if people see a disliked comment they may jump on the bandwagon to dislike it until it is removed (for the time being). I personally think this is a good change; it kinda prevents the mob mentality. This doesn't only apply to stupid comments that have no place in the comment section, but also actual honest opinions that may be disliked just for being different.

We try to be as much on top of profanity as possible. If you see anything, you can always report it.

@Octane I just gave my opinion. I do use the report function but sometimes it looks like a lot of stuff comes through. I’m not as active here as I used to be so it was just my thoughts on the matter.