I think the practice of chewing apart someone’s religion is pretty emotionally trying and leaves the person feeling like the community hates their entire being/identity,
Yes, it would be. In my experience, I haven’t felt that my religion has been chewed apart; by and large, most people on the site seem to shrug and ignore it. So this situation hasn’t yet turned up here for me.
Though you are right; such a sentiment would go a long way towards repairing emotional damage. Actively pointing out and encouraging behaviour that you like is a good way to get people to behave that way more often. I think that’s most of the reason for the karma system; to upvote posts encourages similar behaviour in the future. Replying, with specific reasons for an upvote, encourages a more specific behaviour (and upvoting the encouraging post will probably reinforce the enouragement).
In person, I’m told that eye contact and attentive listening work surprisingly well.
Yes, it would be. In my experience, I haven’t felt that my religion has been chewed apart; by and large, most people on the site seem to shrug and ignore it. So this situation hasn’t yet turned up here for me.
Though you are right; such a sentiment would go a long way towards repairing emotional damage. Actively pointing out and encouraging behaviour that you like is a good way to get people to behave that way more often. I think that’s most of the reason for the karma system; to upvote posts encourages similar behaviour in the future. Replying, with specific reasons for an upvote, encourages a more specific behaviour (and upvoting the encouraging post will probably reinforce the enouragement).
In person, I’m told that eye contact and attentive listening work surprisingly well.