Because to me, they seem like de facto "Agree and “Disagree” buttons, whether or not it was the intent.
Shouldn’t be but they tend to be.
Sometimes people just straight up use them as agree/disagree buta lot of folks struggle to admit that an argument in favour of something with which they disagree can still be a worthwhile argument.
Do you mean by seem that people here seem to use them like that, or that they just seem like that to you?
I try to reserve downvotes for people who are actively harming the discussion. Downvoting good comments just because you disagree is pretty shit behaviour, and I guess the same could be said about upvoting bad comments because you agree with the opinion.
It’s the “I like/don’t like the sound of that button”
I see the upvote and downvote count as an overall room temperature/vibe check.
Whenever votes are good everything’s chill, otherwise if approaching <50% happiness then I recheck/reflect and look for where I could’ve done better.
You can’t please everyone however most can still avoid making fools out of themselves by trying to learn and improve from past mistakes.
