this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2024
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Wow, so many downvotes probably from people hating the news, this is not what the downvote button is for.
It's about if a post or comment contributes or triggers interesting and engaging discussions.
Specifically for news articles, I find it important to upvote if I'm glad the article was posted at all, since it helps raise awareness about an issue etc, or if I probably wouldn't have found the article posted on another platform, so maybe I wouldn't have learned about it at all.
Even if it's fake news, it's better for me to be aware that misinformation in being spread about the issue, with people in the comments explaining why it's fake with sources etc.
The upvote/downvote button is not a change.org petition for making a problem go away by disagreeing with it.
Unfortunately, in a material way, it is. Downvoting a post is a way of lowering its visibility on the platform.
But that is my point: downvoting the news will not keep people from using it; the people who will want to use it will find it anyway.
In any case, people still want to be aware about it, especially the people who disagree and downvoted it, so they should have upvoted instead, in order to have a proper discussion about the issue they supposedly care about.
Trying to bury it in downvotes to make it disappear from "Hot" does the exact opposite.