I think that upvotes/downvotes being private has important psychological effects. If you can get a sense of who your “fans” vs “enemies” are, you will inevitably try to play to your “fans” and develop dislike for your “enemies.” I think this is the primary thing that makes social media bad.
My current cutoff for what counts as a “social media” site (I have resolved to never use social media again) is “is there a like mechanic where I can see who liked me?” If votes on LW were public, by that rule, I’d have to quit.
Could you elaborate on what you mean by this? “Posting different kinds of articles on LW and writing more of the kind of stuff that gets upvoted” also sounds like “playing to your fans” to me—in both cases you’re responding to feedback and (rationally) tailoring your content towards your preferred target audience, even though in the LW case, you aren’t entirely sure of who your target audience consists of.
My current cutoff for what counts as a “social media” site (I have resolved to never use social media again) is “is there a like mechanic where I can see who liked me?” If votes on LW were public, by that rule, I’d have to quit.
Do you mean that the group dynamic itself changes for the worse if likes are visible to those who want to see them, so that it doesn’t matter if there is a setting that makes the likes invisible to you in particular? It’s a tradeoff, some things may get worse, others may get better. I don’t have a clear sense of this tradeoff.
I think that upvotes/downvotes being private has important psychological effects. If you can get a sense of who your “fans” vs “enemies” are, you will inevitably try to play to your “fans” and develop dislike for your “enemies.” I think this is the primary thing that makes social media bad.
My current cutoff for what counts as a “social media” site (I have resolved to never use social media again) is “is there a like mechanic where I can see who liked me?” If votes on LW were public, by that rule, I’d have to quit.
Could you elaborate on what you mean by this? “Posting different kinds of articles on LW and writing more of the kind of stuff that gets upvoted” also sounds like “playing to your fans” to me—in both cases you’re responding to feedback and (rationally) tailoring your content towards your preferred target audience, even though in the LW case, you aren’t entirely sure of who your target audience consists of.
Do you mean that the group dynamic itself changes for the worse if likes are visible to those who want to see them, so that it doesn’t matter if there is a setting that makes the likes invisible to you in particular? It’s a tradeoff, some things may get worse, others may get better. I don’t have a clear sense of this tradeoff.