On multiple occasions a moderator has reached out to me and informed me an account existed purely to go through my comments and downvote me. I assume this is a common occurance and we could combat it better if we could see the votes.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

I worry though that public votes will enable unstable people to stalk people. Vote the wrong way? Why, I'll just create some bot accounts to constantly downvote you, and I'll harass you with replies to every comment you make, reminding everyone that you vote against the grain and shouldn't be trusted!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Yeah there is already too much of a hivemind already, we don't need to make votes public, it would only enshrine a permanent 100% groupthink. It is a very bad idea.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I assure you that unstable people already stalk others and vote histories are already visible to those who try hard enough.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

You could make the saame argument against commenting, say the wrong thing and you get harassed. But what do you do with someone harassing you? You block them. What do you do when someone is harassing you by downvoting you? You most likely suck it up because you don't know who is downvoting you.

I would argue it's more a tool against harassment than a tool for harassment, especially since anyone determined enough can already access that information.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

That must have been an admin, mods can't see votes as far as I'm aware. Only domain administrators can see votes

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago

Easier to just ignore downvotes the instance I'm on doesn't show them and it's great. If someone can't be bothered to explain how I'm wrong I don't care about their opinion anyway.