Upvote:

• I can tell some effort/thought went into the post/comment

• It contributes to the correct community

• Is somewhat original

Downvote:

• It doesn’t belong in the community

• Is spam

• Post/comment is rude or contains unnecessarily offensive material

• It’s a Reddit’ism such as commenting “This” below something they agree with

Neither:

• It’s a hot take I don’t agree with

• It’s been posted several times (including cross-posts because I typically sort by all)

I usually downvote people who are clearly pandering for fake internet points

Upvote when it’s helpful information or funny. Downvote if someone’s being an asshole, giving incorrect info, or complaining about getting downvotes.

If they have a differing opinion I don’t downvote it, but might toss an upvote if they obviously put a lot of thought into it.

Upvote: I like this post/comment (for any reason)

Downvote: this post/comment is off-topic/spam, objectively wrong, or contains logical fallacies

Neither: in all other cases

Based on these criteria, I’m very liberal with upvotes and don’t downvote much.

Upvote if it is not spam so it becomes hidden.

Downvote if spam so it becomes hidden.

Block any community I have zero interest in interacting with. Any regional, political, or sport community

Upvote: useful contribution

Downvote: clear nonsence I think is worth my effort (itt rarely is)

Neither: rest.

Downvotes: Misinformation, bad-faith arguments/blatant hate speech, fearmongering (I suppose that’s part of misinformation though), rude/uncivil things that bring nothing (comments that are just straight up insults, for example)

Upvotes: Fact-checking, sources, educational content, productive discussions, political views i believe in (note: i do NOT downvote ones i disagree with, as long as its not a bad-faith argument or blatant misinformation) helpful positivity, solutions

Ignore: Things I don’t understand, things that are neither productive nor unproductive, things im unqualified in, things I’m unsure about, opinions and statements that i just plain disagree with. And anything else that doesnt catch my attention or interest, or doesnt have anything to do with me.

Do I want to increase the chance of other people seeing it? If so, upvote

That’s my only rule. Downvotes are disabled on this instance

I always upvote if they make me laugh. I try to upvote poeple that make good pionts and contribute to the discussion.

Down voting is more complicated but I just try to use my best judgement. If the person acts like a troll, or deraling the post or just plain being mean. It’s really hard sometimes to seprate someone asking an innocent question and someone trying to rile everyone up.

I also up vote anything that stimulates conversation, even if I disagree with the comment. Unless it’s click baity or the sorts. What makes lemmy great is the posts with great comment threads that you can get lost in, where people are polite

Upvote: cool!

Downvote: twat.

ignore: mostly

I mean, the problem with upvotes and downvotes is that at one point they were supposed to have specific uses, but they’re unenforceable, so it’s really just a “here, community, you manage yourself with the numbers”.

Of course, “misuse” of the downvote is rampant, and so you should always interpret them with a grain of salt when you see them, on your posts or otherwise. Just because you got downvoted doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in the wrong or that you deserved it.

Likewise, just because you got upvoted doesn’t necessarily mean you contributed much to the discussion or that the info you provided is true. So be critical of yourself and your own conduct, and use your best judgment when voting, but at the end of the day, it’s internet points and you should judge a post or comment on its contents and not immediately by its votes.

I’ll upvote if stuff has citations and references to data or studies to back up what would otherwise be opinion… but having said that if its music I like, or something I find just funny yeah ++++.

I downvote racists and cunty behaviour. Or people aggressive (even passively to gaslight - the amount of times someone has gone off at me oversomething I’m trained in on Reddit for example).

I can ignore a lot of stuff. The internet is big enough to.

Oh and as for nuclear - I used to be against it. As I learned more about it I came on-side. I’d still like more solar, wind and storage though.

My own principles: Upvote things more people should see - good points, questions that improve the conversation, things that made me laugh Downvote things that fewer people should see - bigotry, derailing the conversation, bad faith arguments, spam I don’t vote at all on the majority of posts and comments I see

I haven’t seen the post you commented on and I don’t want to take a stand right here right now on asklemmy but I could see how that comment could be seen as derailing in some conversations about nuclear power. There are many other factors than cost when it comes to power sources as well.

To me, it’s more a question of how people interact with each other, independendly from the content / topic:

• Upvote: respectful, friendly interaction, regardless of whether or not I share the same opinion. Even disagreements can lead to worthwile discussions and therefore contribute to the site as a whole.

• Not doing anything: Comments and posts I do not care for, or do not understand. Yes, it happens, I am no genius and English isn’t my first language either. I also usually do nothing with posts/comments that are off-topic but still friendly.

• Downvote: Trolls, racists, bigots, scammers and most bots (unless they’re helpful in some way and not toally obnoxious). I don’t care if someone has the same opinion as me or “proves my point” - when they sound like an ass and throw insults, they’re getting downvoted.