I disagree that people should always leave a comment as that is going to both cause more arguments over small details and if there are many downvotes then it is going to basically spam their inbox.

Sometimes it is nice if one of the downvoters explained if it wasn't obvious, but sometimes the comment is just so bad that explaining is worse than a bunch of silent downvotes.

Nothing was said about requiring it, but I agree that it's a bit annoying when there's downvotes without anyone justifying even a single one of them.

The downvotes also clearly seem to mean different things to different people.

Generally I think they're just used for spam, extreme racism/homophobia etc, cruelty, bullying, or offensive content - but some people are clearly just chucking them around willy-nilly for very little reason.

People having reasons that don't align with yours doesn't make them willy-nilly.

Wow, piefed is looking better every day

Sorry I wasn't clear, I mean that some people (I assume) use downvotes just to mean "I don't agree with the thing you said" rather than "this is extremely offensive/cruel/horrifically bigoted/spreading dangerous misinformation" etc - even on something really minor like "I prefer this tv programme to that one" or "I like this foodstuff made in this way".

Is this one negative enough for you?

Hobbyist*

If something is extremely offensive/cruel/bigoted/etc, it probably needs to be reported and not just downvoted... Unless it's some community for hateposting, that kind of stuff is almost always straight up against the community rules.

Heaven forbid Lemmy acquire new users.

Read the comment again and tell me that's the comment of a new user on their first day

Lemmy is just like every other community that has a narratives it agrees with and if you disagree with it even a little you get brigaded. Tankies in particular in my experience

No, they’re the most hobbyest of all the posts!

Its fun!

Maybe I'll create a community too, for what I don't know yet

I wish it had a dedicated Mobile app. Or a PWA (Progressive Web-App)

Ah yes Tankies, the liberal version of woke

Some people do use it to mean they don't agree with the thing that was said. Heck, I will down vote certain comments because they are a detriment to the conversation even if they aren't misinformation because they might be derailing or ignoring the context of the conversation.

I also down vote some comments for being unnecessarily rude even if I agree with them.

I just have a low bar for what deserves up and down votes, but there is always a reason. Heck, I just upvoted your comment to counter a down vote.

Fair, I only use Voyager anyway

I used to post regularly in a variety of spaces about things I was interested in.

If you post a single thing that a mod has a problem with, you get instantly banned from the most empty spaces, like WHY? I post a sfw pic to a comm that is loosely associated because there's no more specific place to post and I get insta banned, why why why?

Not even disrespectful or toxic stuff, literally just posts that don't meet all the criteria of the requirements that aren't even fucking listed unless you go to the comm in a web browser.

it's extremely discouraging, and after only after like a year on this space, I'm already thinking about ditching Lemmy.

Edit: idk who replied, but you're blocked, probably after harrasing me.