I started seeing a weird trend on Lemmy that I cannot understand.
Weeks ago, posts used to have downvotes and upvotes in the semi-rational range you would expect.
Out of nowhere, it seems like almost all the posts I see now have zero downvotes with some exceptions.
What is happening here exactly?
It’s user instance specific. lemmy.blahaj.zone, for instance (where my account is from) has downvotes disabled entirely - I can’t add them nor view them.
It is a bit of a pain to be honest, since my old lemm.ee account allowed me to do both. I suppose I could email my instance admin to ask for clearance or an explanation, but I think that’d border on unnecessary nagging. I can still see the total regardless.
I believe blahaj has similar reasons as Hexbear.net for why they both disable downvotes, downvotes have been documented as especially targetting queer folk, especially trans users. Removing downvotes removes that visibility. In Hexbear’s case, it’s also to promote discussion, not sure if blahaj has similar aims on that front.