I think I've noticed more 1-liner 'I agree' or 'similar thing happened to me' comments now that a simple upvote can't be used to send a public 'me too'.
Also, totally empty 'nice!' comments (that should've been a public upvote to the parent) are now harder to censure with a single downvote.
There was a definite instructive value in communicating shared sentiments, short of groupthink, via public tallies.
So, it's time for me to resuscitate one of my hobby-horse proposals: two-axis, four-button voting.
The up/down axis is 'appropriateness', the sometimes-platonic ideal of the old voting (though in practice it was always contaminated with a little agree/disagree). 'Up' means 'valuable; more-of-this-is-good'. It accrues to long-term karma. 'Down' means 'subtractive; less-of-this-please'. It also accrues to long-term karma. The net of these two, per comment, need not be shown – or they could only be shown very indirectly as 'positive/negative' or via ordering/shading.
The new left-right axis would be explicitly 'publicly agree/disagree'. Left is agree (keeping with English conventions of usually listing the affirmative first or promoting popular items to a more leftward position). Right is disagree. Neither accrues to karma; they are completely local to the comment. But the net is displayed alongside each comment – or possibly even the total of each agree/disagree, because +100-99 is very different from +1-0. It's just like, it's just like, a mini-poll, a mini-poll.
The right design could keep this from appearing too visually busy: spacing out the buttons, using very faded colors, hiding some details (perhaps even agree/disagree totals) until mouseover or click-for-details, etc.
It would resolve the eternal 'can upvotes/downvotes ever be used for agreement/disagreement' debate by providing an easy outlet for the irresistible human impulse to express sentiment with a single click. It would eliminate many now-superfluous vertically-wasteful comments that are just ways of registering agreement/disagreement. (Many group discussion dynamics require that certain salient statements must trigger at least a grunt of assent or dissent, lest they be misinterpreted as being more or less widely held than they actually are. Having at least one public place to capture this saves a lot of other typing!)
Hmm, I haven't noticed more one-liners. Why would people be less likely to upvote something if they can't see who else has done so?
If upvotes are visible, one function they serve is as a simple, 'me too'. If you know they're invisible, you may still upvote – I meant no strong conjecture on that – but if you want to signal to the group your agreement, now you have to add a comment.
Maybe you'll work to ensure that comment also adds a new detail. But it also might just be, 'I thought the same thing when I saw that' or 'That happened to me too' or 'I had the same problem'. All of which are more-compactly/quickly accommodated by a visible +1 tally.
I see.
Though it's a little bit mitigated by you being able to see votes on your own comments.
I agree.