I really agree with your everything you’ve said. Downvotes might be necessary in theory, but the way they show up on Hive doesn’t look fine at all. If it’s even technically possible, I honestly think they should be hidden somewhere or at least made less visible.
One of my newbies once got a -1 on their introduction post (that post made over a $100). So I understood it wasn’t personal and was probably just a disagreement over the rewards, it still didn’t look good. Imagine joining a new platform, sharing your very first post, and the next thing you see is a red negative number. Instead of encouraging them, I had to start explaining what downvotes are and why they exist. not the best onboarding experience or should I say not something I expected to do at that point.
So yes, I agree with you: downvotes have a role, but they should be handled in a way that protects the community without discouraging new or genuine users or like you said without affecting old users especially the ones without intention to abuse the system so as to prevent more people from leaving.
I agree. Frontends could definitely do a better job of hiding downvotes and other negative notifications from newbies. Ecency, for example, even notifies users when someone mutes or ignores them, which can also create negative feelings for new users.
I also believe that if they understand this dynamic and still decide to stay, they can grow into great Hivers, because, like many things in life, Hive is a journey of resilience.
Thank you for commenting.