The vote up/vote down option

I don’t know how the voting thing works on here and does it appear differently depending on the device you use? The arrows to up or down vote are really hard to distinguish on my phone and I think I’ve accidentally downvoted before so many apologies if I did so to anyone here, it wasn’t deliberate. As others have said I just want to be able to give a thumbs up to indicate I agree or I appreciate the post someone has shared. I did hope the new forum was going to change this.

After reluctantly going on Facebook a year or two back I made a similar mistake and now have "friends" , still got em now as im too scared to remove em...

I hit the -1 on my phone screen once, accidentally and I was horrified! The worst was that when I corrected my error, my name still appeared in the list of voters. I'd never downvote (apart from spam)

So why do they use a  star to indicate "appalling"? I'd have thought even 1 star was good!

I definitely don't think that there should be a down vote on this forum.

I do tend to upvote a lot. I'm not sure how useful it is either.

I only ever give 5 stars or nothing. I don't think this system is good for autistics.

I'd be fine if any kind of stats like this and the achievements were removed entirely.

A said:

You shouldn’t take upvotes, or the lack thereof, as any indication of how you personally are regarded though firemonkey. We would miss your contributions if you weren’t here.

Unfortunately all these explanations as to how people use the vote up/ vote down options don't take away from the fact that others get voted up far more in spite of those explanations. That's not something that's going  to make you feel valued and wanted. Instead it’s' a 'you must really think I'm stupid to think I can be palmed off with  that explanation' situation. 

It could be  a compatibility issue; that  my comments are at odds with the way people here think about things. If so that's a very difficult thing to fix. 

3 is "good" 2 and 4 are less than or greater than "good" but not "excellent" or "appalling" which are 5 and 1.

I’m sorry if I insulted you in any way. That was not my intention (I’m not very good with words and English isn’t my first language).

Yeah I agree they aren’t the best placed, and difficult to press when viewing from a mobile too. I’m sure I’ve downvoted in error too! 

Hopefully on day there will be an improvement, but there seems to be bigger issues with this forum currently!

I didn’t know what the up and down option was for when I first joined this forum, and is too close to the ‘reply’ and ‘More’ on the iPad. I’m responsible for a few votes in error.

I’m not a massive fan of the voting system but I do feel there should be something so we can react to comments and replies. I use the uptick to either acknowledge a reply to one of my posts/comments or sometimes to show I agree with what the person says. I would try not think too much into it when someone down votes or doesn’t react at all, although I know it’s hard to not think into it!
I did have a recent down vote on one of my comments and couldn’t help think why, but the person made a comment and said they had agreed with my comment, so I believe they may have downvoted by accident. 

I think even a change such as having a “like” button would be just as fine

I actually completely missed the vote down option until I saw this post (as only joined recently) and personally would only use the like, in response to a post/reply I found helpful, so a soft "thank you".  Like others, I can't read everything on this forum - so most responses will not have a vote either way

No comment.

I don’t like it either. People seem to use them in different ways, eg. Approval or disapproval of the content, agreement or disagreement with a theory or belief, or as a ‘tick’ to show it has been noted. It is hard not to take it personally. 

I see this forum and its members as a group in some sort of classroom or hall, I actually imagine everyone here how they could look like, the tone of everyone’s voice etc. and when I come here I’m just happy to see, that all these people from this group, I got used to it, are still sticking around here. And it means, that I’m also happy to see you here, even if I don’t express it. Which I’m actually doing now writing this post. There are some users who I think of, and miss them here, but I also understand that it’s everyone’s decision if and how long they want or can stay here etc. 

Your feelings are valid despite all reasoning. A has nothing to do with B, sorry if that didn’t come through in my first comment.
However, it is important to still train the objective parts of your brain to absorb facts as they are. That’s by no means easy and it will not resolve your negative thoughts, especially with the traumatic background to them. Still, think about the factual side of things in moments where you’re able to think a bit more clearly, write them down if necessary. You’re very intelligent from what I’ve read and despite general thinking: that does not always make life easier. Also, I’m fairly young so I don’t have the experience you have and I know it’s not as easy. Just try. Be aware of the fact that your thinking and reasoning might be overshadowed by your traumatic experiences.

I'm unsure about the 5 stars below the OP of each thread. Is 1 star good or bad? Sometimes I think of giving 1 star because something's good, but not great, but I'm scared that people will think 1 star means bad, so I've never bothered.

I don't deny my self esteem is low, but it's not something that has no  life experiences  behind it. Some people get over traumatic experiences better than others. I don't do well on that score. Just as there are good reasons that have been explained re upvotes , there are historically valid reasons why I feel as I do.

I think you’re struggling with awfully low self-esteem and even though there is no rational reason for that, it’s still a valid feeling. There are many reasons for autistic people to feel inferior and insecure even though they shouldn’t. I’m constantly thinking about if people actually like me or if they just feel sorry for me or don’t dare to tell me their opinions on me, so I know that nothing I’ll write will persuade you to believe all those voices telling you that you are in fact of great value for this forum. 
But you have to keep the rational part of your mind in check while reasoning. Many here just explained the different ways they use the up- and downvotes. The next time you feel bad about not seeing any upvotes under a post, you have to make sure that at least the rational part of you reminds the bad thoughts of those explanations.

Reddit is far worse than here.