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Is it rude to interrogate downvoters? (piefed.blahaj.zone)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/casualconversation@piefed.social
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I'm very curious about the reasoning different people use when deciding to downvote a post or comment. Often, when something gets "heavily" downvoted, the OP will ask some variation of "why the downvotes?". This is sometimes answered with sincere criticism, but sometimes is received even more poorly than the original offending post.

Do you downvote people who ask "why the downvotes?"? What informs the decision?

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[–] 17 points 7 months ago (3 children)

I've never understood this position. There's definitely people who try to use it rhetorically to get others to engage with their trolling; but "automatic" implies that you're not concerned with that. Do you not think it's possible for someone to make a comment in poor taste without knowing what makes it poor taste? Now that I'm thinking about it, that feels like one of the defining traits of autism; I think it's healthier to explain something "obvious" to someone like that than to effectively say "fuck you for even asking".

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  • [–] 7 points 7 months ago

    This is very true and I often find myself asking for clarification on comments I don't understand why they get downvoted. Usually I manage to give enough context as to why I'm so ignorant that I need to ask the question, and most times I don't get downvoted down along with the parent comment.

    But the person you replied to said they downvote people who complain, not ask why their comment is downvoted.

    There is a fine line between complaining and asking for an explanation though so I see your point and your reasoning but I felt like I had to make this distinction too.

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