Just joined Lemmy today. From what I understand, there are different Lemmy instances that host different communities. I supposed that to interact in a community hosted in a certain instance, I would need to create an account for that instance. Ended up creating 10 different accounts.
IIRC, there is research that people tend to “pile on” when they see downvotes, but not when seeing upvotes. So by disallowing them, you kind of keep all posts on the same playing field? Not that I support the decision, so I don’t actually care enough to properly look it up; but I imagine that’s the thinking, more than personal fragility.
I could imagine if there were a karma system that downvoting would also reduce your own karma, do keep people from just aimlessly downvoting everything as much? But that’s just a thought experiment, not a suggestion. 😅
There is a karma system! At least on kbin where you are. You have 1 reputation point.
Do you know what goes in to reputation points? Do downvotes have a negative effect? Genuinely asking.