Comment by firesteelrain
5 months ago
Downvoting and upvoting even if not visible can also lead to groupthink moreso on sites like Reddit than here. Points acquired here eventually let you downvote. But, really no reason to upvote or downvote comments as no one can see the points of a particular comment on this site. I am aware that after so many downvotes that the comment starts to gray out into oblivion eventually but even that promotes groupthink. Factual counterpoints, especially in political threads, are hard to discuss
> But, really no reason to upvote or downvote comments as no one can see the points of a particular comment on this site.
Voting effects the presentation order of comments, which is especially significant when there are many responses sharing an immediate parent.
That's probably a bigger impact from voting than making points publicly viewable would be
Yes, I think it is definitely a balancing act, because the rising of certain comments can certainly contribute to groupthink. However, I also think that impact of having the best comments rise to the top is very useful. The system doesn't work super great in an early and active thread, but it works very well once the thread ages a little bit
I think that supports my point. If there were no points then it would just be responses in order of posting. Points offer bias.
Yes, the point of moderation, community or otherwise, is to be a mechanism for promoting group norms.
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