Besides, it feels more “proper”, in the vaguely ethical way, to not up- or down-vote people with whom I am conversing. Not that I think it should be a universal rule, that’s just a quirk of mine.
I have no qualms against upvoting people that I’m responding to or who have responded to me, but I have a much higher threshold for downvoting responses to my comments and posts, both to try to compensate for the human tendency to get defensive and to increase the probability the conversation is pleasant.
Agreed with all of this, but the last bit makes me curious… does downvoting someone who is involved in an exchange with a third party decrease the probability that the conversation is pleasant for the two of them?
Well being downvoted, especially when it puts one in the negatives, stirs up bad feelings which might make someone less likely to behave pleasantly in a conversation.
I have no qualms against upvoting people that I’m responding to or who have responded to me, but I have a much higher threshold for downvoting responses to my comments and posts, both to try to compensate for the human tendency to get defensive and to increase the probability the conversation is pleasant.
Agreed with all of this, but the last bit makes me curious… does downvoting someone who is involved in an exchange with a third party decrease the probability that the conversation is pleasant for the two of them?
Well being downvoted, especially when it puts one in the negatives, stirs up bad feelings which might make someone less likely to behave pleasantly in a conversation.