Reddit downvotes

[lostforgottensoul]

Welp, I now frequent a sub on Reddit. For a few months. I'm not going to advise which sub but I do want to advise of the Reddit voting system. Here you have likes and that's it. Then you are forced to reply. There, you have an upvote and downvote system and it's very foreign to me. There, they disagree by downvoting and never reply with their thoughts. I like the sub Reddit, but finding it very difficult to handle their voting system, being forced to delete a comment with very vaild points on it due to 50 downvotes but not one person bothered to reply or asked me to explain in different/better words.

Does anyone else frequent Reddit and if so, how do you navigate their voting system and not take it personally?

This point is brought up a lot on Reddit itself. One sub dedicated to "explain my downvotes". Why is it so easy to forget their is a person behind the comment on there? And why is it so easy to take all of that personally?

I thought this belonged here because downvotes, for me, is hitting in the cognitive distortion/core beliefs area about myself. Oddly, there are many with mental health issues in this sub. So, you'd think they would get the impact of downvotes even more. But, not so much. Thoughts?

 

[somerandomguy]

Oh god, Reddit is SO toxic. My experience is that it's made up entirely of either college kids trying to sound smart and experienced - when the reality is that they are neither - or trolls who respond solely for the lulz.

Please do NOT tie your self-worth to upvotes or downvotes, or to Reddit at all. Next time you go there, take a peek at r/catsstandingup and see how some responses have thousands of likes and other have thousands of dislikes - all for no reason at all. And that's the way it is on every other subreddit too, although it's a lot more subtle.

I took part in an Ask Me Anything with RAINN a few months ago and revealed that I was a man who had been abused by a woman. I received literally hundreds of angry and abusive responses calling me a liar and an MRA and plenty of other names just for stating my history. So beware - if your story doesn't fit with the common Reddit narrative - or if you just happen to cross some trolls on a bad day - you're going to have a bad time.

 

[Kubash16]

Ya Reddit is like Yahoo Answers, nothing but some really attention seeking kiddos for the most part. I browse on there and occasionally comment when this forum is quiet but I could care less if I’m downvoted. It’s just someone’s opinion, they don’t know you in person so they are not downvoting you as a person. As far as them not replying with the downvote-ignore those.

It’s kinda like the concept of looking at reviews for a new restaurant. Pretty much any legitimate business is going to have a few things: people raving over the top that it’s just so fantastically magical, people nitpicking every tiny little thing, and then the stars with no comments. Say the restaurant got a two stars but no comment thing. Sure the restaurant could take it personally but there’s nothing instructed to work on, so instead the restaurant ignores it and assumes the person was having a bad day. Because that happens, a lot. People want to take their own stuff out on something they deem harmless. They get to feel a little better about themselves while not causing any real damage (in their mind), it has nothing to do with you.

I do browse the psychotherapy sub cause it’s cool to learn, same with some of the other stuff.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

So beware - if your story doesn't fit

Luckily, my story is not allowed on the sub I frequent. That's a horrid story though. Sorry!

Pretty much any legitimate business is going to have a few things: people raving over the top that it’s just so fantastically magical, people nitpicking every tiny little thing, and then the stars with no comments. Say the restaurant got a two stars but no comment thing.

Pretty accurate!

 

[somerandomguy]

Oh, another thing I forgot to say - lots of people on Reddit will claim that they are some kind of expert, but you have no way of knowing if that's actually true.

I used to frequent the legal advice sub until it got too triggering, but the thing that really was the last straw for me was finding out one of their starred commenters (i.e. a Reddit-endorsed expert) was actually a 15-year-old.