Twitter Announces It Will Expand (Non-Public) Downvoting (ibtimes.com) 40
Ars Technica recently pointed out that the concept of downvoting posts and comments "has been a staple of the Internet for decades, appearing on sites such as Slashdot, Reddit, and Ars Technica."
And Twitter is now experimenting with its own version, according to the International Business Times: After initially announcing the launch of a "downvoting" feature in July, Twitter revealed on Wednesday that it would be taking the feature to the global testing stage, even as questions remain about whether a more positive or negative environment is fostered on the platform as a result. The company announced that the "downvotes" will expand to more people on iOS and Android devices, and reiterated that the votes are not public, but can help the company determine what type of content different people actually wish to see.
"We learned a lot about the types of replies you don't find relevant and we're expanding this test — more of you on web and soon iOS and Android will have the option to use reply downvoting.
"Downvotes aren't public, but they'll help inform us of the content people want to see...".
Twitter has not yet announced when the "downvote" feature will be rolled out to all users, or if it ever will be. While the test should help the company figure out if the downvote option promotes a more hateful environment or fosters a better experience, their final decision is yet to be revealed.
The Washington Post includes a screenshot of the downvoting button, describing it as a small arrow to the right of the like button.
And Twitter is now experimenting with its own version, according to the International Business Times: After initially announcing the launch of a "downvoting" feature in July, Twitter revealed on Wednesday that it would be taking the feature to the global testing stage, even as questions remain about whether a more positive or negative environment is fostered on the platform as a result. The company announced that the "downvotes" will expand to more people on iOS and Android devices, and reiterated that the votes are not public, but can help the company determine what type of content different people actually wish to see.
"We learned a lot about the types of replies you don't find relevant and we're expanding this test — more of you on web and soon iOS and Android will have the option to use reply downvoting.
"Downvotes aren't public, but they'll help inform us of the content people want to see...".
Twitter has not yet announced when the "downvote" feature will be rolled out to all users, or if it ever will be. While the test should help the company figure out if the downvote option promotes a more hateful environment or fosters a better experience, their final decision is yet to be revealed.
The Washington Post includes a screenshot of the downvoting button, describing it as a small arrow to the right of the like button.
The wumao will love this. (Score:4, Insightful)
Just like Slashdot, the CCP shill downvotes against anything anti CCP will come flooding in to Twitter.
Re: (Score:3)
Yes. I am especially excited about expanding the tech censorship from politically motivated employees to mobs of bots and die hard faithful actors who couldn't even spell policy let alone describe the positive or negative ramifications of it.
This will be a good day in the effots of free speech. Advancing from more and better speech to counter bad speech will now be reduced to clicking a button to burry the content so deep nobody will ever see it. Think of all the effort it takes to copy paste canned replie
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At least 1990s spell checkers would catch spelling efforts and bury incorrectly. Slightly ironic in a post where you complain about people not being able to spell policy correctly.
I didn't mod down your comment because I think all opinions are valid, not just the ones I agree with. I think Twitter would need to tweak their mod mechanisms to achieve the same thing.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, I turned mine off so it would agitate you. B
Voting in general is problematic (Score:1)
Re:Voting in general is problematic (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem is that an up or down vote doesn't cost you anything. You don't have to think about downvoting or upvoting someone you can do it as much as you like without consequences.
At the very least the number of votes you get to cast should be limited, particularly down votes. Another thing is that if you show a pattern of frequent downvoting you should be given fewer downvotes, or maybe pay some kind of reputational backsplash where your posts are unfavored.
Re: (Score:3)
An up or down vote indicates interaction. The voter cared enough about the post to tap that icon.
Twitter wants to identify engaging posts, even if the engagement is that people don't like them. As long as they stay on the site or in the app, Twitter is happy.
Re: (Score:3)
That is true; the system isn't there to benefit *users*.
Upvotes much be counted separately from downvotes (Score:2)
Unlike Slash dot, both totals should be shown.
An article with +20 - 22 is quite different than one with just -2. The first is controversial, and so probably interesting, the latter a boring troll.
This also stops Chinese trolls down voting things they disagree with to make them disappear.
Re: (Score:2)
I need to mark it on the calendar, we agree about something. If anything I expect twitter will specifically want to keep people seeing things they hate because outrage porn is a fantastic way to short circuit people's thinking.
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Except on Slashdot (Score:5, Funny)
The user moderation on Slashdot works very well, probably because the users given mod points are extremely intelligent (especially the ones with mod points today).
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Yup, everyone you annoy MUST be a leftist-fascist! (Score:2)
Great. More opaque ways to censor. Twitter is a leftist fascist (I know I repeat myself) dream come true.
The ONLY reason people would EVER give you unfavorable feedback is because they're leftist fascists, right? That's right, you buddy-boy, are perfection incarnite. There is NO ROOM whatsoever for you to improve or evolve in either your views or your messaging. If someone doesn't like what you have to say and downvotes you, the ONLY reason has to be that they're a "leftist-fascist?" Obligatory XKCD [xkcd.com]
It's weird, I get downvoted all the time and think...hmm, I must have made a dumb point or expressed mysel
Re: (Score:1)
Yeah, trolling. Dude, the phrase "leftist-fascist" doesn't even make sense if you clowns would dig out a dictionary and use it every now and then. It's like saying "agnostic pope". You know, instead of just spouting off uneducated-slob Youtube-fuelled vitriol.
Mentioned this on Twitter... (Score:1)
Down-votes not visible? (Score:2)
Down-votes should be visible, that's usually both the most insightful and the most ridiculous can be found.
And/Or ? (Score:2)
I imagine, on some platforms, those aren't mutually exclusive.
They already have 'likes' and tone-analysis (Score:2)
the votes are not public
In other words, when the content is the sort Twitter wants, they will ignore the downvotes or deem them illegitimate. When it's content Twitter wants to censor, they'll do nothing to stand in the way of the outrage mob and you'll see a "Our community has found this post unhelpful" popup when you try to view your post, if anything. It's already how 'reporting' posts works but this adds another tool.
It's much like how if a cop wants to pull you over, he can follow you around and wait for a violation. With an
YouTube (Score:2)
Ironically YouTube recently has hidden downvotes, which were a useful metric to determine if a video had the content it claimed to (as compared to popular following, entertaining, funny, other spurious upvote reasons), now Twitter is bringing in downvotes...
Re: (Score:2)
Youtube down votes were being abused by people who didn't like the subject of the content. For instance, every Forbes snippet of a speech by a president was getting tons of downvotes because of the person speaking. This came to be a really noticeable issue when Joe Biden became president. A lot of people were using it as a protest against him. The dislikes were outweighing the likes by 10 or 20 times.
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People use up/downvotes in a different fashion for tutorials, artistic contents, and opinion/politics. The root of the problems is to believe a single platform with uniform rules should host all of that.
They should make different sub-platforms and different rules, so that youtube users who just want to listen to music or learn arts and crafts don't have to deal with all the shitty atmosphere of the politics platform. They don't because it makes them look less consistent and maybe does not maximize their rev
What could go wrong? (Score:2)
Twitter is not an online community, it's an arena, and a new game has been added to compete in. The side that can most bloody its opponent wins.
Wonder if it will be like Youtube (Score:1)
Hide those download counts lest people find out how bad Rewind was. Also, there's so much garbage populist crap on FB and TW that I don't see how downvotes by yet more of the same morons who reshare white nationalist hate and conspiracy theories should be listened to. If sane people who can be promoted to moderators were possible, then it might make sense. Overall, popularity contests serve no purpose because the haters, Kremlin boiler rooms, and bots will brigade.
More profits!!! (Score:2)
on Twitter downvoting (Score:1)
Re: on Twitter downvoting (Score:2)
You have a bike. One of the wheels comes off. Should you keep riding it, or just forget about the stupid bike?
You have a voting system. The downvotes falls off. Should you keep trying to use that system, or just ditch it in it's entirity?
In other words, only certain people are allowed (Score:1)
Being able to downvote was and will be abused by people. This was done by Hillary Clinton and her actblue minions during the 2016 election in notable online forums including reddit's r/politics. What's worse is the fact that they really didn't hide the fact and reddit administration failed to hold her or her campaign accountable.
If you dared to counter the prevailing liberal opinion you'd be instantly downvoted 100 points in a flash as the hired boiler room lackeys spotted your post. And, because you recei
Fuck up once, fuck up somemore (Score:2)
Twitter removes downvotes. And twitter creates and even bigger clusterfuck.
They lost me after "no public downvotes".
Tire falls off of car while in motion, more damage to follow.
In other news, every company removes downvoting (Score:2)
With that said, it's time to get rid of the polling system altogether.
Imagine going to a voting place and there is only one choice. You can chose not to vote of course. But the shitfall would be extreme.