Facebook has been cautious not to add a thumbs-down button. You have to add an emoji in the comments. Reddit pushes the most popular comments to the top and the less popular ones to the bottom. But what we get confused about is how to dislike something. Disliking an idea doesn’t reflect the person who made the comment. It isn’t a judgment of character. However, how we have been conditioned to like something is equated to picking the person. Discourse has to evolve online. My prediction is it will continue to get worse before it gets better. However, every unpopular opinion cannot be an attack on a person. Safe spaces for dialogue are needed now more than ever.
In the end, most of what we read online is junk food. Content approval is not the same as a personal rejection, which will continue to be a barrier to meaningful conversation. At the same time, it says a lot about humans’ need to meet the approval of other humans—people like us.
Josh Allred's Blog 