> the forum as a place for free and open discussions gets ruined by this
shitty feature
I'd hardly say "ruined." No one's speech is censored by down-votes.
Everyone's posts can still be read with one click or zero depending on
whether or not JavaScript is enabled. All that down-voting does is express
disapproval, which should also be allowed in a free and open forum. Freedom
of speech does not mean freedom from disapproval of your speech.
I agree that down-voting is a silly way to express disapproval. Down-voting a
comment just because you disagree is passive aggressive and immature.
Discourse would be improved if the feature were only for flagging violations
of community guidelines. However, level of discourse is not an issue of
freedom.
The voting system is stupid and should be replaced. I understand why you are
frustrated with people who down-vote posts without presenting a
counterargument. You have every right to be angry at whoever down-voted that
comment of yours on that other thread, as you were not violating any
community guidelines. However, I think that your justified anger is clouding
your judgement, as your attempt to frame this as a moral issue to condemn the
entire community is flawed, and from what I have seen you are an otherwise
logical person.
Even if the voting system doesn't get fixed any time soon, there are plenty
of people here who do respond to posts with which they disagree with an
argument. Numbers, red bars, and extra clicks are irrelevant to those
arguments. I recommend disabling JavaScript on the site. It is unnecessary,
and without it I do not even have to click on down-voted posts in order to
read them.
