All of this implies that a meritocratic system of engagement is fundamentally impossible on this site, and in general, which I just don't agree with. There are certainly issues like the ones you just stated that result from social media poisoning our brains and capitalism proliferating anti-social hostility and competitiveness, which have rendered the idea of meritocratic engagement online mostly impossible/heavily rigged toward being unfair, but I like to think this site is pushing back against that and trying to encourage engagement that is the opposite. So to get rid of upvotes, to me, would be to say it's impossible here to, as a community, engage with each other and each others' ideas and support the ones we think have merit (for whatever good faith reason that might be), which is something I guess I just don't want to give up on, as it's a larger ideal I think we should be striving for in all smaller communities, online or not.
Hey I'm just like trying to explain why I thought upbears are ok, but idk I guess I'm not describing it good or am doing it in a way that sounds bad/wrong. I didn't intend to make some stand or ultimate point about forcing people to socialize or something, and if I did I didn't mean to. I want people to just feel safe and welcomed and supported. I really don't care strongly either way about this topic/debate beyond my surface level feelings ideas that I thought i'd share, and didn't seek out to get in an argument or get yelled at. So I guess I'm disingaging or whatever because now I feel bad.
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All of this implies that a meritocratic system of engagement is fundamentally impossible on this site, and in general, which I just don't agree with. There are certainly issues like the ones you just stated that result from social media poisoning our brains and capitalism proliferating anti-social hostility and competitiveness, which have rendered the idea of meritocratic engagement online mostly impossible/heavily rigged toward being unfair, but I like to think this site is pushing back against that and trying to encourage engagement that is the opposite. So to get rid of upvotes, to me, would be to say it's impossible here to, as a community, engage with each other and each others' ideas and support the ones we think have merit (for whatever good faith reason that might be), which is something I guess I just don't want to give up on, as it's a larger ideal I think we should be striving for in all smaller communities, online or not.
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Hey I'm just like trying to explain why I thought upbears are ok, but idk I guess I'm not describing it good or am doing it in a way that sounds bad/wrong. I didn't intend to make some stand or ultimate point about forcing people to socialize or something, and if I did I didn't mean to. I want people to just feel safe and welcomed and supported. I really don't care strongly either way about this topic/debate beyond my surface level feelings ideas that I thought i'd share, and didn't seek out to get in an argument or get yelled at. So I guess I'm disingaging or whatever because now I feel bad.
deleted by creator