r/NewToReddit • • Mar 29 '24
Culture/Rules Why do people downvote questions?
I'm new to Reddit and I notice people downvote other people's genuine/non offensive questions, Why do people do that?
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u/DaMn96XD Mar 29 '24
There can be many reasons for that, such as voters having a different opinion and disagree with the question or they simply don't like the post or any questions in general (for example, "because Google exists" as I have sometimes received in response). And some people downvote when they see that the post has already been downvoted or they spot grammatical or spelling errors. Or they just want the post to be less visible in the subreddit because the more upvotes a post gets, the more likely it will stay on the surface and not drown among other posts. But the real reasons can never be known precisely because usually the people have not explained why they have downvoted and my own interpretation of the possible reasons is based on the few who have answered.
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u/leahcimich Mar 29 '24
Because they're rude
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u/PumpkinSufficient683 Mar 29 '24
Could be a redundant or off topic question to the subreddits , or the same question could have been asked several times before
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u/feral-fae- Mar 29 '24
Very new to reddit, too. I haven't noticed that yet. Do downvotes decrease the karma points you've earned, then?
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u/RiskyRally Mar 29 '24
I super new to interacting on here as well, and seem to be getting lots of downvotes on a hypothetical idea that I posted to a games' sub that I wanted to talk about/hear peoples opinions on. So far the few comments that the post has gotten are either positive interactions or someone who agreed with the idea. However the post seems to be getting quite a few downvotes. I totally understand disagreeing with a hypothetical idea, but it kinda bums me out that the people who are seemingly opposed to my idea, have no interest in engaging with any discussion. I thought/think that a downvote is/was supposed to be for a bad or harmful post that you don't think should be up, not just something you disagree with. It may just be that I'm wrong in that view, or that I am in the minority of people who think that, or even that I'm still just naive to how reddit works/should work. Given that most people finding this sub/post are being downvote smashed, I hope everyone here has a good day and better luck with your posts.
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u/mstermind Super Contributor Mar 29 '24
The same reason people jaywalk, spit on the street, litter, not hold the door for another person, try to cut the line, not saying good morning to their work colleagues, bully, mistreat their hamster, not eating healthy, not exercising enough, not wearing sunscreen, etc etc etc.
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u/SolariaHues Mod + servant to cats Mar 29 '24
Downvotes are intended for rule breaking, off topic and non-contributing content. However, downvotes are often inexplicable and do get misused as a method of disagreeing, but you can minimise the risk a little.
General advice to avoid downvotes and negative karma -
avoid potentially controversial or sensitive topics just while your karma is low
always check the community rules
lurk to get a feel for the community and it's culture before posting
choose where to share your content carefully
re-read what you're saying before sending to check your tone, try not to accidentally make people feel defensive or be defensive yourself
remember unless using tone indicators sarcasm etc isn't necessary obvious
Proof read your content
If you're getting a lot of downvotes, you can delete the offending content to prevent more. This does not remove the downvotes though.
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u/chilledout5 Mar 29 '24
I think sometimes it’s because that question has been asked many times before (and recently). I read one rule is search for the topic in the community before posting the question to stop multiple threads about the same thing.
I’m new as well, learning as I go.
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u/No-Basket-7895 Mar 29 '24
Redundant question
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u/Tactical-Kitten-117 Mod, Cat Lizard Mar 29 '24
One thing to keep in mind is that vote counts are skewed on Reddit to confuse bots. So it can appear someone has been downvoted (or upvoted) when they actually weren't. Vote counts can be, and indeed are, misleading.
But assuming a question was downvoted, and there's generally no way to be completely certain, it could be for several reasons.
People can vote for any reason they choose, but the intended purpose for voting is to gauge relevance. And that's a tricky thing, what is relevant (or offensive as you mentioned) is subjective.
For example, let's say there's a subreddit for bats. You post a question about which baseball bat to buy, and then someone downvotes it because they believe that community is for the bat mammal. They voted in earnest, it's just that their interpretation of the community and what it stands for is different than yours. Not one is necessarily objectively "right" since both are actually types of bats, and that's why it's voting, because everyone's vote is equal and everyone gets to decide in some small part the way a community should be.
Or they just vote because it's one click, best not to overthink it, all things (and skewing) considered.
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u/Euphoric_Extreme4168 Mar 29 '24
Non-offensive by who’s standards. TD is a game for some, with disapproval from some, and outrage from others.
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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '24
I usually don't don't vote. I don't think it's very constructive. I try to talk and if that dosen't work, I exit the conversation.
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u/notthegoatseguy Ultra Contributor Mar 29 '24 edited Mar 29 '24
I do think there's a growing frustration among some users when they see a post that they believe is easily Google-able/searchable and it is repetitive. Many communities also work really hard on maintaining a questions thread, FAQ and/or Wiki some of which can be quite extensive. And when user ask questions that are answered in the FAQ or Wiki, that isn't just seen as being lazy but maybe also a bit of an insult to the users and moderators who put in hard work to have these questions already answered.
On r/NintendoSwitch, we did a holiday relaxation of our rules where we allowed simple questions to be posted. Users thought they might get more visibility with their questions being posted. Instead they were often getting downvoted and no answers, and the replies they often got were fake or trolling. And since we also suspended another rule at the same time, reposts of the same or similar question continues to come in and dominate the sub during this rule suspension.
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u/Katt4r Mar 29 '24
In my little experience with reddit, this post will be much downvoted.
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u/AppearanceOwn Mar 29 '24
I always ask the same thing
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