Hello, not sure if this is the right place to ask, but is anyone else being massively downvoted on every comment? I noticed this started happening after the DDOS attacks on lemmy.world. If you check my profile, you’ll see what I’m talking about. Almost as soon as I post a comment it’s at -10, etc.

Have I pissed off someone, or is it a possible bot attack? I try to keep most of my comments cordial, which is why this is confusing me. Thanks.

    • Betty White In HD@lemmy.world
      22·
      1 year ago

      At the same time downvotes can often be used to push down dumb or unhelpful comments to make good or helpful ones more visible and can be used to kind of put up a red flag to whoever is reading it. It’s the same reason people are complaining about YouTube removing visible dislikes on videos and why the Return YT Dislikes extension is so important. It’s often (not always) a quick way to see if a video will be worth watching, especially when it comes to how-to/repair videos.

      If I’m on a motorcycle community and I’m asking about what’s the best type of front brakes on my particular year and model of a bike and I see a comment with a ton of downvotes, it’s kind of a red flag to me to examine that comment more carefully and maybe not take it at face value. There’s a good chance that it’s bad advice.

      They serve a purpose and purposefully muddying up this system does do some harm to the platform.