Who are the "thumbs down" people?

Question

This is merely another notification that some people are going through questions giving a "thumbs down" rating to every question or answer that they merely don't like. I've seen perfectly respectful, reasonable answers marked with some person's hateful disapproval. There is a survey question in R&S today: What religion are you? and at least three people went through and gave a thumbs down to every answer they didn't like, which was almost every answer. I also noticed that recently, Yahoo added an ratings threshold to answer pages. They automatically set mine so that any answer with two more thumbs downs than thumbs ups gets collapsed from my view. I re-set it (five times now) to show ALL answers. And when I see a lot of thumbs downs on an answer, I give it a thumbs up for balance, regardless of what the answer says. I encourage others to help offset these negativity merchants with some positive votes for people's honest opinions. Freedom is in your mouse.

Do you see? One of them got me already. No answers, but my question got a thumbs down. It is a matter of opinion and a negative opinion is still an opinion, but to give disapproval to a person's right to express an opinion is like censorship. I wouldn't try to keep someone from expressing an honest opinion- good or bad- but if you have an opinion, why don't you simply write an answer instead of telling people you don't approve of their right to give an opinion? It is a battle. It isn't a battle between conflicting opinions, but between those who think that we all have a right to express an opinion and those who would like to silence the voices of all who don't share their own opinions.

Answer 1

The thumbs down rating system is not being used as it was intended. Yahoo really should just oust it. It was set up to be used as a reporting device for inappropriate answers or questions. It seems to have become a game for some people. It is certainly not being used as intended. The thumbs up is also being used inappropriately. I have noticed that many people are giving thumbs up to statements that are often hateful - because they agree with the bigoted statement. I feel it is a useless rating system. I also feel the ratings threshold makes maters even worse. I applaud your efforts in trying to balance things.

Answer 2

I think they ought to get rid of the ratings bar. It isn't fair and it doesn't really work. It discriminates against an unpopular religious or political view and destroys our sense of freedom of expression. It was intended to raise the quality of answers but it may be destroying the quality instead; people have to walk on eggs if they don't want to receive "thumbs down" ratings. This is not the same thing as reporting abuse.