Downvote Drama? No Thanks!

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmbpkz6sUvAmdmARwXb3Bg1GsxqQGc9PQjncPBp9fDoAUJ/img_3504.png) Every now and again I’ll get a downvote on one of my posts. It’s usually around this time of year. My posts do not use plagiarised material, nor do I use A.I. generated content. All photos and videos are taken by myself, often of myself. I have been here since the early days of **Steem** and **Steemit** and know, not only the history, but the posting rules. I also try to follow the rules of the various communities here, so genuine downvotes are quite rare. The only genuine downvote I ever got was from when I accidentally posted something, tried to delete or edit the post to be zero content and the posted the full content later. The downvote was from a known psychopath / self-appointed Hive sheriff. He’ll downvote some just for being African and then again for pointing out his obvious racism. People like this drive new adopters away from Hive (and people wonder why the price keeps dropping!) Another was because I had joined an auto-downvoter-bot thingy. Someone had downvoted someone else with ny account’s permission. I rapidly had to apologise, upvote their content and then remove myself from auto downvotes. If I upvote or downvote anything from now on, it’s ME doing it and only after some weighing up the rammifications. As a general rule, if someone downvotes my content I will often ask why they did it. Not out of spite, but it’s so that I can learn to write better blog posts. I rarely get a response. Mostly it’s people who are new to Hive, testing the system. A quick and polite conversation can get things straightened out. One person replied once and said they downvoted me for promoting my own post (with my own Ecency points and which I have done since I had the HP to do so). The post in question was for the wider benefit of Hive users… Not long after that, that account got downvoted into obscurity and they were caught by **Hivewatchers** to be cutting and pasting content without attribution. ![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmPw7Sswa4E1QL9Mew4AvK9sJpk9ci7T5d8mugH4AVmmtR/b3fdc767_0257_49ae_81c7_f1ad0a40da25.png) Your “only job”, is to not be an asshat on a community based internet platform. They later claimed that I was responsible for their mass downvoting when in reality they caused their own problems. The top picture is from an account who downvoted my previous post. So I check their account and their only post is from 2024; it’s a conspiracy where somehow they were a victim of Hivewatchers (Do you notice a pattern here?) or something about how Hive was apparently used to interfere in the 2024 US Presidential election. Or something. I only skimmed it. These people are insane! Playing the victim is narcissistic too, and they never ever have enough **Hive Power** to make a difference. How much can they really care about the Hive community if they weren’t investing in it in the first place?

Downvote Ettiquette

From a financial, numerical perspective, downvotes have the same weight as upvotes. However, there is obviously a lot more emotional weight attached to being downvoted. It doesn’t “feel” good. What makes matters worse is when the downvoter doesn’t explain why they are downvoting the content. Is it just a disagreement of someone’s opinion or are they genuinely wrong? Is it benign or pure hate? This creates confusion and resentment, which isn’t good for your online reputation / branding. People post stuff that I disagree with all of the time, but because I am often not in a position to provide a counter argument in a way that can change their opinion, I let it drop. Some people’s viewpoints are “core beliefs” and they just won’t be budged. There’s always the poossibility that I am wrong about any given subject at any given time (and to be honest, real growth comes from admitting it). I can find the i formation, but would they be willing to listen, ubderstand and let go of old ideas? That’s a big ask of anyone. There are people on this platform that I wish weren’t here, but I do not seek them out or start beefs or downvote wars, etc. I don’t need or want the drama. I don’t need to “feed the trolls” or give notoriety to bad actors. In conclusion: If you feel the need the need to downvote someone, please weigh up the consequences and where possible explain why you’re giving the downvote. It might something as benign as someone posting something in the wrong community, but the explanation goes a long way towards removing confusion and potential pushback. If you have been downvoted, ask the downvoter why they did it? I am not against downvoting; I just feel it’s being abused. Use it wisely. Thank you for reading this, have a great day! ![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmXEKGGoMDKR9vPYt5JvjYSB3TVjtLp24SNDLazzFnp4Hu/img_3500.jpg)***Shaidon*** All content, including photos and text, are produced by myself except where indicated otherwise and sources are always supplied. I do not use A.I. so your upvotes support a genuine human being producing original material.

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