I downvote anything that I deem worsens the quality of the community. This includes, but is not limited to:

• misinformation

• trolls

• bad faith engagement

• uncalled for hostility and incivility

• very lazy, low effort posts/comments

It's a disagree button. That's how it's used in practice, and we're better off just accepting that.

Misinformation, bad attitudes, clichéd jokes

"This is so ignorant replying would be a waste of time."

The downvote button is the disagree button

misinformation and acting in bad faith, both of which have a funny habit of occuring at the same time

Is incorrect or does not contribute to the topic of the thread

"This does not contribute" button.

On a related topic, one thing I learned from the old Century Club days on reddit is the Courtesy Upvote.

If a thread is interesting enough that you commented, upvote it, upvote all the other comments.

If someone replies to you or one of your posts, upvote them too.

It's not a "disagree" button, but it is a "you're wrong" button. They could be wrong by trolling, spreading misinformation, spamming, being disingenuous, refusing to understand the topic or engage in good faith... None of those contribute to the conversation.

Misinformation, propaganda, stuff like that. We can disagree and I'll not downvote you. But if you're outright spewing lies, whether you realize it or not, I'll downvote.

Bad faith arguments or inflammatory nonsense. We can disagree and I'll upvote if you're actually speaking in good faith.

Pretty much any form of, "Whataboutism" gets downvoted. No one was talking about C, why are you acting indignant about C when people were discussing A and B, you know?

"I don't like this" button.
Which is often something I disagree with

Disagree with prejudice.

Racism and homo/transphobia, which are often disguised as (mis)information. I don't usually downvote people unless they're being outright hateful though and then sometimes I block them too.

Also downvote & report spam, which is actually pretty rare on lemmy.

I'd guess that most of my downvotes are where one person is engaging in personal attacks on someone else.

Bad faith, low effort, hostility.

Whatever I want.

I have no obligation to downvote consistently.

I do what I want!

"This"

Not your post, but anything that's just an upvote in the form of a comment.

Also anything that's egregious misinformation or bad faith posting.

Or anything that's just spammy or bonkers crazy. I've blocked more people in my 1-ish year on Lemmy than I had in something like 10 years on Reddit...it definitely feels like Lemmy is the haven for Reddit refugees, including those who got banned for not really understanding how to engage in this type of space.

Also, any post that really doesn't fit the community. Like NoStupidQuestions posts that aren't questions or are really just AITA or DAE (social validation) posts in disguise.

I know that sounds like a lot, but for the most part, I don't vote on things. I upvote most posts that are cool/interesting enough to get me to go to the source or read through the comments, as well as any good comments. And pretty much any comment that engages in discussion with my own comments without being annoying or rude, lol

Like/Dislike.

Yeah. I really hate it when someone has what I would call a "bad take" and then I try and engage in conversation with them and they get downvoted to hell. Like sorry friend, I swear it wasn't me, I'm just trying to have a conversation too ☹️

I mostly downvote bad faith, hostile or just generally angry/mean comments independent of whether I agree with them or not. Basically I'm using it against the people that are polluting the air here.

For content that lowers the quality of the fediverse. Misinformation, reposts, bad faith actors, etc.

I try to use it like the original Reddit vision, which was that up and downvotes are for comments that I think add to the conversation. I'll upvote a comment that I disagree with if it's well thought out and well articulated (then I'll say why I disagree).

The exception is when it's a thread looking for factual information. If someone asks for objective information, I'll downvote wrong answers.

Hide post button

For me it's "this comment shouldn't exist" button. Sometimes it's because it makes the experience of reading worse, regardless of the content of the comment. Sometimes it's because the content is so bad.
But i don't just downvote something if I just disagree with it, it should be bad

For posts specifically, more juvenile ass, vagina, dick joke/image type posts.

For comments, I tend not to downvote because I normally don't find a point.

I don't have a downvote button. I disabled seeing downvotes as a whole as they were massively misused and not super helpful.

the instance i use doesn't have one

Unhelpful / unconstructive

I use it to order a powerbomb.

misinformation, slurs, incivility, off-topic content, and video links without text summaries

Trolls & bots - then block the user - my feed is remarkably clean

but sometimes just to disagree…

All of these comments are like "down votes aren't dislikes, heres how i use them: list of things they dislike"

"Disagree"/"its bad"/"eww"

Usually it's a "you're an asshole" button.