The other day I upvoted a post I agreed with. A reply disagreed with it and made a thoughtful argument against the post I agreed with. I upvoted that too. Thoughtful discussion and insight is always something I appreciate.

I use upvotes as a ‘read’ button. Sometimes when I enjoyed a post, I up it it as well. Rarely do I downvote unless I noticed the post/comment was already negative.

I upvote comments I like that contribute to the conversation; downvote dumb jokes and people just trying to get easy upvotes. And also comments I don’t like/disagree with, though I try avoiding that if I can help it cause it’s bad etiquette (especially if it contributes to the discussion).

If it seeds division, doesn’t provide a path to discussion, is overtly toxic, is in bad faith, or is flame bait. It gets the downvote.

When I joined Lemmy I used to upvote everything I mild agreed, but then I felt that I couldn’t emphasise the truly good comments because I already upvoted everything else.

So now I only upvote the best comments of a thread or a post (or at least of the ones I get to read).

As for down votes, I kinda hate getting down voted, therefore I don’t usually down vote just because I disagree, I can disagree and still respect one’s opinion (unless it’s something reactionary and/or that trully infuriates me).

If I said something that is factually wrong then by all means, down vote so other people may not be mislead by something I thought it was true. But I don’t think it’ nice to down vote on comments just because you don’t share the same opinion on a topic. Or because your personal experience is different from mine.

I also downvote a lot when posts on “technology” communities have nothing to do with (any new) technology and instead are just advertisements for some corporate product.

If i comment on a post or reply to a comment, I upvote it. Case in point.

If i think a post is in the wrong place, I downvote it. For example, I follow a lot of art communities. In artshare I upvote literally every post because I think creativity should be encouraged, and sharing your creative journey should be encouraged. However, I feel like the traditionalart community is for sharing professional art pieces. I’ve already seen your same piece in 4 other communities,et me have one place for polished art.

Eta: if someone comments on a post I make, I almost always up vote. Unless the comment is complete garbage, im grateful for the engagement.

I will always downvote mods obsessed with power. The mod of !pics@lemmy.world is such a mod. There is even a post about that on !support@lemmy.world. But it seems like it was not very well taken. Well, I saw it and I fucking hate that dude. We had the option of doing something better here, but power still got to mods head. Fuck him.

Other than that, I don’t think I downvote much. I am just happy people are here.

Way back in the Reddit days I used to upvote everything I interacted with and liked or thought was contributing to the conversation.

After the API drama I deleted my account, but I still browsed Reddit anonymously for a while before joining Lemmy. Obviously that meant I couldn’t upvote anything. Unfortunately, I think those habits kinda transferred to my Lemmy account and these days I barely upvote anything and downvote a lot of things I disagree with.

I need to put in the effort to relearn both upvoting things in general and upvoting things I disagree with that are contributing to the conversation. It’s just really annoying to have to do that for every post and comment

I upvote a lot of comments. I try not to downvote many - I try to only downvote shitty comments, which are not ones with which I disagree, but shitty arguments or other bad actors. I also try not to upvote comments with which I agree that are shitty.

But I admit I’m nowhere near 100% on this.

But overall, I like upvoting lots of comments. If I read it and like it, I typically upvote. If I disgree but thought it was well-written or decently-written, I tend to upvote.

It pisses me off when I write a well-thought-out comment that has information that I wish people in the thread would read but it goes against preconceived notions so it attracts downvotes. It sucks. But that’s just how things are.

That I have RSD doesn’t help, though. I struggle not to take replies personally, but it’s difficult when that’s the only way I can seem to read something. But this begins to stray from the question at hand.

I tend to upvote submissions that promote the community, comments that do good jobs explaining things, and comments that have productive controbution. I don’t downvote people that disagree with me. Those are reserved for people being assholes. My vote/view ratio is pretty low

When I joined lemmy after not having a account on any social media for years, I kept overthinking how and what to upvote that I just decided not to vote on anything.

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I upvote when the argument is good or I want to give a little more visibility for the argument expressed in the comment. And if it’s a joke, to show that I enjoyed the joke.

I downvote if an argument is in bad faith or not thought of thoroughly at all.

I updoot basically everyone I interact with, or anyone I think has shared good insights, funny jokes or some other thing in that order. Or when relevant to a community like the unpopular opinion community where you upvote what you consider unpopular and downvote what you consider popular

I downvote when I think someone has a bad take, or is being hostile or spamming

And I don’t interact when im either feeling neutral on it, a good take is proposed in an asshole way, or someone whose comment is disagreeable enough for me not even consider engaging

I mostly just upvote or pass. If someone is adding to the conversation and keeping the Fediverse alive, upvote. Like throwing a thumbs up.