34 upvotes so far! Nice work!

Nah. I want to make sure I'm being kind enough to not deserve downvotes. It's a lifelong battle.

Its more so a curiosity. I've noticed others behaviors and was wondering who lives for the downvote vs who is rarely smashing the down vote. This platform kinda fundamentally runs on down and upvotes.

It does depend how we are defining what matters. By your definition very few things matter. As a location for discourse it matters in how people related to said discourse in that votes can help push or diminish narratives and craft a location that is or is not an echo chamber. We're all aware what people see shapes their views and their views shape their actions and their actions shape the world. So I'm not sure I agree that the culture of a platform, the content that is pushed doesn't matter.

Off topic tends to be used very subjectively, particularly if someone just dislikes the comment. Particularly when someone takes one line from a comment that's on topic to say the comment is off topic. Not always of course but it's rare so far as I've seen.

Now as for breaking rules or just being verbally violent, most definitely.

I'm not arguing that one shouldn't have the ability to downvote. More so asking if anyone else is generally apprehensive to downvote and more specifically enjoys opposing opinions. I find in most circumstances not just of Lemmy that people are more so looking for agreement aka an echo chamber without any dissent aka an echo chamber.

I think there's more users like you than me. I appreciate the candid answer.

I'm not sure if ur profile picture is real, but in case it is: You, sir have a magnificent beard!

Yeah, I try to give everyone uppies unless they're being a bigger jerk than me. The accidental downvotes, they happen but like I usually catch them

Similar, if someone is just being mean to be mean.

This. The original intent of the downvote on reddit was for things that actively take away from the conversations; not merely because you disagree with it.

Equally, the upvote was for things that contribute, not just for things you like.

Very fair.

I upvoted you actually. Like anywhere online I've seen very negative people who get joy from others feeling bad or thinking they have made them feel bad. I always want to have a candid discussion with someone like that because it's very curious to me.

So far the people I've been able to accomplish that with are very discontent in their life or something specific in their human experience but it's a very small sample size. Most keep with shallow discussion more so like they're playing a character.

What if they're trying not to ruin spoilers?

Views, engagement and votes determine what people see and what they don't as well as how they feel about it. What people see shapes their views. Their views shape their behavior. Their behavior shapes the world. It's worthwhile for an online community to not become just another pointless echo chamber.

Ditto.