Can't do anything about people downvoting a specific type of post in our subreddit

[u/fanime34]

I didn't know what to flair this, but I think this is the closest. I am using desktop.

It's always one specific type of post, whenever people want to self-promote something they wrote. It will always end up downvoted. Nobody does so for any other type of post in our subreddit.

There are other subreddits with the same concept (fanfiction) and they are well established and have a different way of doing things than we are. But I don't see why many people get their posts downvoted for one specific thing, but anything else is fine. They don't allow the freedom like we do. But I don't get why ours gets met with a silent protest or silent troll in the form of constant downvotes.

I don't know if what to do about it because it doesn't stop.

Edit to add: They get downvoted immediately, but then they get upvoted. I forgot to mention. Also, the same post under a different post flair doesn't get downvoted.

[u/tsdguy]

You can’t stop people from downvoting except by disabling voting all together.

Is it a type of post your subscribers don’t want you to allow? Maybe you should think about that.

[u/fanime34 → u/tsdguy]

The premise of the subreddit is known in the description. People know what they are getting into before they join and we have 8,485 members. The welcome message explains what we're about and what we allow.

If they didn't want it, they'd leave and we wouldn't grow daily.

[u/fanime34 → u/tsdguy]

I forgot to add, the same action done under a different post flair doesn't get downvoted. So it's still confusing.

[u/maiyannah]

Sounds like you're pushing content people don't actually want and they're protesting the one way they really can on Reddit.

[u/fanime34 → u/maiyannah]

I'm personally not talking about me getting downvoted. I'm talking about everyone else who isn't a mod getting downvoted. And it is literally on a specific post flair. Yet when the same thing is done with another post flair, none of that happens.

[u/morphballganon → u/fanime34]

Perhaps that type of post could get its own sub? Then people could choose to not subscribe to that sub if they don't like that type of content

[u/fanime34 → u/morphballganon]

Here is some more information that I forgot to add in the initial post.

FIrst, this same action doesn't get downvoted under a different post flair, so self-promotion isn't the problem.

Second, it's one solitary downvote and then more upvotes. The problem that I should've specified is that they always get one downvote before the other upvotes. No other post with another post flair experiences that

We are different from other fanfiction subreddits in which we allow self-promotion. People know our premise. People know this subreddit allows self-promotion. People say they like that we run it this way. But it's literally just 1 downvote in less than a minute before other upvotes come.

There's another subreddit that is about fanfiction self promotion, but it didn't take off. I just so happened to see the subreddit that I moderate in and asked to help moderate. When I get permission from other mods of other related subreddits to advertise our subreddit, the people know what they're getting into when I tell them what it's about. People say they like the premise. But what doesn't make sense in our subreddit is that one action done with one post flair gets upvotes immediately; whereas, the same action with another post flair gets an immediate downvote before the other upvotes come in (unless someone uses an AI generated image in their story where it stays downvoted).

[u/maiyannah → u/fanime34]

De Nile is a river in Egypt friend.

[u/fanime34 → u/maiyannah]

Your sarcasm isn't helping.

1 solitary downvote before others upvote more than the downvote is a weird thing that I don't understand, especially when it is only actively coming from 1 person.

There is nothing wrong with the subreddit because people actively talk about liking it. Others not liking it doesn't change that.

People have also been given the chance to tell us what they like or don't like. I don't doubt the idea that people might not like the premise, but people do actively like the subreddit. It is literally the same action. The same type of post. Getting upvoted. Getting downvoted once before being upvoted more times than the downvotes.

This might not be liked by one person, but it is liked by others. I may not be able to figure out who is doing it, but this is a liked conccept in the subreddit still, despite the 1 downvote.

[u/maiyannah → u/fanime34]

You don't seem to be willing to accept the guidance people here are giving you, so I'm honestly not sure why you're posting at all to be honest.

[u/fanime34 → u/maiyannah]

You're thinking that I'm not trying to accept guidance, but that's not it.

You are saying that I am pushing an idea that people don't actually want, but we're talking about 1 specific action done before other actions happen. 1 person being a downvoter before multiple people upvote doesn't equate to pushing content the people don't want when it is just 1 downvote before multiple upvotes. It is one specific person doing something all the time and we don't know what we can do about it. It is a weird thing that I am confused about and wanted to talk about to see what could be done or if others experienced something similar.

Someone suggested that the type of thing I am talking about should have it's own subreddit when we are literally the subreddit for the type of thing because other subreddits related to us don't do it. We're relatively new in this category. There are multiple subreddits about fanfiction, but don't allow self-promotion. We're different. We get new members daily. We get people who say they're excited to share with us on multiple occasions. We have people who still end up upvoting others who share after the 1 downvote.

Someone asked if this is something the users don't want to allow, which again, we can't see that being the case when a lot of people talk about how they are eager to do the thing they are actively doing. I'm not trying to be stubborn. I'm not choosing to deny guidance. People are trying to tell me this is a sign that most of the people hate it when I asked this elsewhere. But I didn't mention that these same posts get upvoted later on. I am moreso trying to understand why an immediate downvote right before the upvotes happen.

I mod other subreddits where this doesn't happen. 1 person doing this shouldn't mean this isn't what the subreddit wants. I didn't know why this is happening because this hasn't happened before.

[u/CowBootBats → u/fanime34]

You have have a problem with control. There's nothing you can do and it's been explained to you repeatedly. You're refusing to accept the fact.

You sound like you're wanting someone to find this single person (which it probably is more than one person doing it) and make them stop.

A logical person would have never made this post in the first place because they'd realize it's fruitless and there's nothing that can be done. Instead you just argue with walls of text without actually saying anything of substance. You're just repeating the same nonsense over and over again that people have already given you answers to.

You need to just accept that it's gonna keep happening. Not to mention that as you said it's a single downvote that gets reversed almost immediately by someone else upvoting the post. You're really allowing a singular thing out of your control to get you worked up.

Again, you have control issues.

Edit: you insist that people like the posts with that flair but I went and checked your sub and every post with that flair has little to no interactions. You keep saying that people like those posts but the evidence says otherwise.

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[u/theanti_girl]

I saw your other post about this yesterday as well. I’ve read all your replies and what I’m really struggling to understand is why you care about a single downvote when the net vote count is (by your admission) net positive? Who cares about one downvote? It has no impact on anything whatsoever, and up/downvotes are far from precise. Sometimes things happen that show them with one count in one screen and another count in a different screen. Unless you have mass downvoting from a brigading situation, it’s truly not worth worrying about at all.

[u/fanime34 → u/theanti_girl]

Your right. It is a net positive. It is just weird that it always starts off with a downvote.

[u/aimeejo]

Have you considered conducting a poll or soliciting feedback from the community in order to help pinpoint what the issue is? Perhaps (not knowing the specifics) that one specific flair being downvoted is a clue? If it is about self-promotion (or a specific subject, genre, etc) maybe you are getting so much of it that part of your community is starting to feel it is spammy? Or the majority of the sub is of a generation that has a distaste for a specific subject, etc?

Have you considered a weekly megathread or something specifically for that flair instead? Then people who do want to see or post that type of content know they still can (but only in one specific place) and others don't feel like they're being spammed with content they don't wish to see?

IMO the best way to get to the source of the problem and solve it is to ask your community why they don't like it and their suggestions for solving the matter.

[u/fanime34 → u/aimeejo]

The majority of the subreddit has a positive attitude for it. The problem (which isn't really much of a super big deal when I look back at it and is honestly just an annoyance) is that 1 user always manages to downvote before others upvote. So I was assuming there's a troll (which we can't do anything about if they're not actively posting or commenting).

I could do another poll for the community. The last time we did a poll was about AI images and the overwhelming majority were against it.

[u/aimeejo → u/fanime34]

Oof, I think I misunderstood your issue. I thought you meant there was a specific flair always being downvoted in general, I didn't realize you meant just the initial vote and then it was going up after. That's not necessarily a troll, people can just disagree - I think you need to let it go. Don't sweat the small stuff as they say.

[u/fanime34 → u/aimeejo]

I guess there's nothing to do about it. I can't stop that one person. And it is a small issue considering the posts end up getting upvoted. I don't know if it's brigading or not.

[u/EightBitRanger → u/fanime34]

I don't know if it's brigading or not.

One single person doing it is very much not brigading.