The down vote button is not the "disagree" button, what do you use it for?

I downvote anything that I deem worsens the quality of the community. This includes, but is not limited to:

misinformation
trolls
bad faith engagement
uncalled for hostility and incivility
very lazy, low effort posts/comments

Perfect! I'd add mindless slogans as well.
"The cruelty is the point!"
Or any of 100 other endlessly repeated replies.
- Wouldn't that just fall to the last bullet point?

Misinformation, bad attitudes, clichéd jokes

100%. And for me, I downvote every form of unnecessary censorship

It's a disagree button. That's how it's used in practice, and we're better off just accepting that.

This is a really nice situation where you can confidently say anyone downvoting you is a hypocrite.
What does that say about the sorting algorithms though? Should we sort posts based on votes then, or should we sort them based on something else? Do we want the posts at the top to be the ones the hivemind agrees most with and the ones the hivemind disagrees with should disappear at the bottom?
Perhaps sorting should be based on total votes and not just downvotes? So downvoting is effectively still "voting" for it, just in a different way. I'm just spitballing here, I find the theory of sort/vote systems fascinating.
I love it and hate it when I write a thoughtful and, at least to me, friendly and persuasive post but because it goes against usual Western narratives (hedonism good, fencesitting as a virtue, truth is flexible, etc) I get a flood of downvotes... but no comments nor arguments against it! Which makes sense: I've shaken their house-of-cards ideology and they're having a gut reaction, but maybe later on they'll explore what I said and start thinking in earnest about the topic. 🤷🙏
- I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the reason you aren't getting any replies is because you sound full of yourself

Is incorrect or does not contribute to the topic of the thread

misinformation and acting in bad faith, both of which have a funny habit of occuring at the same time

The downvote button is the disagree button

"This is so ignorant replying would be a waste of time."

Also: "that's it, I'm leaving this sub."
Usually in response to a post that isn't even an overall representation of the sub.

For content that lowers the quality of the fediverse. Misinformation, reposts, bad faith actors, etc.

Bad faith arguments or inflammatory nonsense. We can disagree and I'll upvote if you're actually speaking in good faith.

Pretty much any form of, "Whataboutism" gets downvoted. No one was talking about C, why are you acting indignant about C when people were discussing A and B, you know?

I mostly downvote bad faith, hostile or just generally angry/mean comments independent of whether I agree with them or not. Basically I'm using it against the people that are polluting the air here.

Bad faith, low effort, hostility.

Unhelpful / unconstructive

It's not a "disagree" button, but it is a "you're wrong" button. They could be wrong by trolling, spreading misinformation, spamming, being disingenuous, refusing to understand the topic or engage in good faith... None of those contribute to the conversation.

I think making a genuine mistake is fine if it contributes to discussion, especially if it's later edited to reflect the fact that it was mistaken.

"I don't like this" button.
\ Which is often something I disagree with

misinformation, slurs, incivility, off-topic content, and video links without text summaries

Whatever I want.

I have no obligation to downvote consistently.

I do what I want!

Disagree with prejudice.

Yeah. I really hate it when someone has what I would call a "bad take" and then I try and engage in conversation with them and they get downvoted to hell. Like sorry friend, I swear it wasn't me, I'm just trying to have a conversation too ☹️

"This does not contribute" button.

On a related topic, one thing I learned from the old Century Club days on reddit is the Courtesy Upvote.

If a thread is interesting enough that you commented, upvote it, upvote all the other comments.

If someone replies to you or one of your posts, upvote them too.

"Disagree"/"its bad"/"eww"

I try to use it like the original Reddit vision, which was that up and downvotes are for comments that I think add to the conversation. I'll upvote a comment that I disagree with if it's well thought out and well articulated (then I'll say why I disagree).

The exception is when it's a thread looking for factual information. If someone asks for objective information, I'll downvote wrong answers.

I disagree, so I downvoted you. Guess that's my answer.

Like/Dislike.

That's upvote/don't upvote in my book.

All of these comments are like "down votes aren't dislikes, heres how i use them: list of things they dislike"

I'd guess that most of my downvotes are where one person is engaging in personal attacks on someone else.

Racism and homo/transphobia, which are often disguised as (mis)information. I don't usually downvote people unless they're being outright hateful though and then sometimes I block them too.

Also downvote & report spam, which is actually pretty rare on lemmy.

As the electronic version of [look of disapproval], the same way the upvote means [nodding while thinking yes yes]

This is the best answer for me so far. I like it!

Disagree.

"This"

Not your post, but anything that's just an upvote in the form of a comment.

Also anything that's egregious misinformation or bad faith posting.

Or anything that's just spammy or bonkers crazy. I've blocked more people in my 1-ish year on Lemmy than I had in something like 10 years on Reddit...it definitely feels like Lemmy is the haven for Reddit refugees, including those who got banned for not really understanding how to engage in this type of space.

Also, any post that really doesn't fit the community. Like NoStupidQuestions posts that aren't questions or are really just AITA or DAE (social validation) posts in disguise.

I know that sounds like a lot, but for the most part, I don't vote on things. I upvote most posts that are cool/interesting enough to get me to go to the source or read through the comments, as well as any good comments. And pretty much any comment that engages in discussion with my own comments without being annoying or rude, lol

Misinformation, propaganda, stuff like that. We can disagree and I'll not downvote you. But if you're outright spewing lies, whether you realize it or not, I'll downvote.

When content is low quality, posted to the wrong community (usually intentionally), trolls. Basically anything that I feel shouldn't exist. The content that I believe takes value from people's lives instead of adding it. If I find content that I dislike but believe adds value to other people, well that's what the block/ban features are for.

For me it's "this comment shouldn't exist" button. Sometimes it's because it makes the experience of reading worse, regardless of the content of the comment. Sometimes it's because the content is so bad.
But i don't just downvote something if I just disagree with it, it should be bad

Disagree

I disagree

I don't have a downvote button but if I did I'd use it on misinformation. Things that are factually incorrect or unsubstantiated.

For any blatantly wrong/nonsensical BORING comment that remains hostile and argumentative (cause if I'm entertained I can just continue posting, lol, I'm as much of a yapper online as I am IRL!). If I find your posts nonsensical but you're chill, I'll exit the conversation politely, often thanking you for your time.

To order a delicious sorbet.

Trolls & bots - then block the user - my feed is remarkably clean

but sometimes just to disagree…

Silly OP, I don't even have a downvote button (idk if it's the instance I'm in but I don't particularly mind ngl)

I like to reserve it for special occasions. Comments that are very confidently wrong, needlessly edgy or rhethorically loaded. Anything that I don't want to dignify with a verbal response but where I still want to express my aversion. The exception are "funny downvotes" like mass downvoting the fourth person in a chain or stuff like that.

Usually it's a "you're an asshole" button.

Conflicted here...
- I hear you, but I don't use it if I disagree with somebody, I use it if they're disingenuous or rude or disparaging towards other people. Because fuck them.

To add a little colour to my front page.

Hide post button

the instance i use doesn't have one

The instance?
\ Usually it's a client option, not an instance thing.
- Several instances disable downvotes for their users. The one I am on does as well, so that brigading and botted downvotes by queerphobic people are less effective iirc.
  In practice I can't downvote things and they also don't get shown to me.

These days, mostly for reddit mirror bots.

I dunno what people's obsession is with Lululemon, and I really don't care, but that fucking bot alone is like 5% of lemmy/all, these days.

I use it for

Not relevant
Needs editing for writing mistakes.

I don't have a downvote button. I disabled seeing downvotes as a whole as they were massively misused and not super helpful.

I downvoted your comment because it's doesn't really add anything to the conversation, it's just aggressive virtue signalling.
- I disagree as it's still on topic and to do with the down vote button, but that's your merit, I can't see it ^^'
  from my POV it only re-enforces my point that it's misused more than not and not a reliable metric to use, and the option to just not use them as a whole is there.
- Did he edit the post? I don't see the aggression, and being virtuous and expressing it isn't something to criticise, lol, it's not like they're some hypocritical politician (not that I saw that here either). But if you were just making a joke, my bad!
I must downvote once for every 5/10 replies I make. If I really disagree with you, why wouldn't I publicly show how wrong you are? I can't let my peers be misguided when I can avoid it!

For posts specifically, more juvenile ass, vagina, dick joke/image type posts.

For comments, I tend not to downvote because I normally don't find a point.

Disagree

If you're a skater you know there are no rules at the skatepark, except those enforced by those that are at the skatepark...

Same as online communities, there are only ones that get enforced by downvotes.

I use it to order a powerbomb.

i reserve it for closet fascists, morons, bots, and the incorrect.

i like to wipe my butt with it

Perfect comment, adding it to the folder

Against genocide supporters