I've strongly suspected it for a while now.

  • FirstToServe [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    no one's upvotes or downvotes actually work on that site. it goes into a black box and comes out 'fuzzy'

    • RandyLahey [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      nah i know about the fuzzy thing, but a number of us have confirmed that our votes arent counted at all. like it fuzzes above 3 votes i think, but if youve got a fresh comment with no votes and you upvote it and refresh (or look at it outside your account) it will stay at 1 and the vote doesnt register

      normally for the first vote, reddit will keep it fixed at 2 (or 0) without fuzzing until theres more votes, so this is the easiest way to see it happening

    • HelpMeImInHell [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Yeah I can confirm. I have tested it with multiple accounts made from the device I was on when I used to comment in the chapo sub. To this day any accounts linked to this device cannot up or downvote. I've tested it with other people where we just comment on each other's comments and mine never register at all. It's not vote fuzzing. I've even gone into the question subreddits to ask why my account is like that, or even more benignly to ask if reddit even does this or if they have an official stance on it and those posts get... I guess you'd call it "shadow deleted." They don't show as deleted to me, but no one ever sees them. However, I can post and ask other unrelated stuff.

      Other people have mentioned the same. @RandyLahey is totally correct. It pisses me off because the only thing I really use reddit for anymore is to ask for little bits of advice on some topic or about medical conditions and I can't even upvote the people who respond as a minimum "thanks."

      • FirstToServe [they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I know it's overplayed to make orwellian references but holy shit it's frustrating. Watching from the outside of what's so large a forum it could reasonably be called a public utility.

        • HelpMeImInHell [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          It really really is fucking frustrating. A few years ago I felt hopeful that a lot of the reationary shit that was there from the beginning was starting to get challenged, that leftist subs were popping up and there were actual leftist perspectives being discussed in some of the main subs. It was looking like there maybe could be some leftwards groundswell, or at the very least, a reduction in the more openly fash shit. Looking back, I know that was naive, but only because the same thing I was hopeful about was obviously recognized by people with power, because sure enough, all of that shit got cracked down on hard. Hence the loss of the chapo sub. It's so very blatantly steered.

          I was just trying to find an article someone posted here a while back about literal former CIA now playing a major role in the workings of reddit. I'll edit and paste it if I can find it.