I would like to propose replacing up and down voting on comments with emoji reactions. Since Lemmy doesn’t have a consequential karma system, I don’t believe the gamification of comment upvotes helps engender a discussion with a diversity of opinions. Instead of a binary choice, we will be able to express a far greater range of reactions. I see emojis as being especially helpful as a replacement for downvotes since it will help the author understand why the reader disagrees. While I agree that replying instead of downvoting is a better choice, it’s not realistic for everyone to have the time to do so.

For posts, voting serves a useful purpose in creating a curated list of most popular posts in each community. This is important for people who don’t have time to follow all posts in their subscribed communities.

  • BrikoX@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    This sounds like a terrible idea to me. You don’t need a range of emojis to be able to express yourself, that’s what comment box is for. Having emojis would just reduce actual interaction. Your interaction with people shouldn’t be a race, just make it meanigful instead.

  • it_could_be_worse@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I like this idea but it requires a consistent standardized use of emojis to be effective. Upvotes seem to have a general “positive” meaning while downvotes implies negative feeling. I would love to have an emoji that meant mixed reaction, agree, disagree, funny, etc. but figure out the standard for it will be really important to understand how users are affected with the post.