Joey 
PM me your cute OCs
We've already received a lot of feedback regarding our "[recent changes to how downvoting works":](/meta/downvoting-is-being-replaced-by-hiding). It's very important to note that this is just the first stage of a change that's been in discussion for a long while, and we are very open to changing how it's implemented based on feedback. The only thing currently set more-or-less in stone is that downvoting/hiding an image will stop it from appearing for you in search results and such by default.
The truth is that downvoting has often typically caused way more issues than it's helped. I won't go into too many details about the how and why, as the original thread did a pretty good job explaining it, but we've gotten a large number of complaints from artists and other members of the site about how images seemed to be getting a large number of unjustified downvotes, and we saw plenty of evidence of abuse as well. So based on that feedback, a change was implemented.
Obviously this change is getting feedback of it's own, some positive, some negative. We would very much like to find the best balance between eliminating the concerns the old implementation of downvoting has caused, but still allow it as feedback if that's what the community so desires.
A few suggestions have already popped up on how to further refine this change. These two are the ones that stand out the most though. Note that these are paraphrased/summarized by me, and not a direct quote from anyone:
**Reddit-style scoring*
[bq]*
> Basically, re-enable downvoting, but do not show individual counts of upvotes/downvotes. Instead, only show a cumulative score for an image. That way, images that are particularly bad/shitposty will still have low/negative scores, but an individual downvote will have much less effect, as there's no count of how many downvotes an image has received. This means that score becomes an overall summary of the community's reaction to an image, and it can still be used for filtering purposes (hiding images with scores less than -50, for example), but the temptation to abuse it will be less prominent, as there's nothing obviously indicating that the number of downvotes is increasing.[/bq]
**Showing hide counts*
[bq]*
> Keep the current scoring system (score == upvote count), but also show a less prominant statistic about how many people have hidden an image. This again can be used to gauge how the community has reacted to an image, but without having any negative impact on image scores.[/
**Downvoting and hiding**
> Basically, revert everything bq]
ack to the way it was, but just add a hide button in addition.
If you have any opinions on the above suggestions, or perhaps another suggestion overall, please post it here. Please try to keep the posts constructive and helpful, instead of just whining that you don't like the current change. We understand you may not like it, which is why we're discussing it.
The truth is that downvoting has often typically caused way more issues than it's helped. I won't go into too many details about the how and why, as the original thread did a pretty good job explaining it, but we've gotten a large number of complaints from artists and other members of the site about how images seemed to be getting a large number of unjustified downvotes, and we saw plenty of evidence of abuse as well. So based on that feedback, a change was implemented.
Obviously this change is getting feedback of it's own, some positive, some negative. We would very much like to find the best balance between eliminating the concerns the old implementation of downvoting has caused, but still allow it as feedback if that's what the community so desires.
A few suggestions have already popped up on how to further refine this change. These two are the ones that stand out the most though. Note that these are paraphrased/summarized by me, and not a direct quote from anyone:
**Reddit-style scoring*
[bq]
> Basically, re-enable downvoting, but do not show individual counts of upvotes/downvotes. Instead, only show a cumulative score for an image. That way, images that are particularly bad/shitposty will still have low/negative scores, but an individual downvote will have much less effect, as there's no count of how many downvotes an image has received. This means that score becomes an overall summary of the community's reaction to an image, and it can still be used for filtering purposes (hiding images with scores less than -50, for example), but the temptation to abuse it will be less prominent, as there's nothing obviously indicating that the number of downvotes is increasing.
**Showing hide counts*
[bq]
> Keep the current scoring system (score == upvote count), but also show a less prominant statistic about how many people have hidden an image. This again can be used to gauge how the community has reacted to an image, but without having any negative impact on image scores.
**Downvoting and hiding**
> Basically, revert everything b
If you have any opinions on the above suggestions, or perhaps another suggestion overall, please post it here. Please try to keep the posts constructive and helpful, instead of just whining that you don't like the current change. We understand you may not like it, which is why we're discussing it.