> Many disagree votes (in comparison to Like votes) result in a warning text above the post: "Many people disagree with this comment". Then, if you read the comment and agree with it / like it, you'll know it's important that you also read the replies, so you'll find out why others disagree. — This is how it looks (scroll up a tiny bit to see the "Many disagree" warning):
I think you are being overly optimistic. Seeing a warning that "many people disagree with this" will mostly fuel bandwagoning and dogpiling. This is what happens, e.g. on Reddit and Ars Technica, where heavily downvoted comments attract more and more downvotes, even if the comments are entirely reasonable. All it takes is a few initial downvotes and the snowball starts rolling.
> Another purpose with Disagree is that, well, I'm curious — I want to know how many people like or disagree with something. Imagine that a friend of yours makes a speech and you're listening. Afterwards, when you've formed your opinion about what s/he said, I imagine you'd find it interesting to know how many of those listening, agree or disagree with what s/he said in the speech.
Actually, no, that would not be interesting at all, because it's entirely meaningless. On the Internet, you can always find x people to disagree with y. It means nothing without knowing who those people are and why they disagree. More importantly, just because a "dislike" button has been clicked a certain number of times doesn't mean that that many people have read, thought about, and disagree reasonably with the comment. It's just as likely that it's a thoughtless, knee-jerk reaction or that it's a form of retaliation for some other comment.
> Yes that's a problem. There can be a grace period before Bury votes take effect. E.g. 10 people must have read a comment, before Bury takes effect.
That can still be abused. Just don't bury anything. If it breaks a rule, flag and delete it. Otherwise, let it stand on its own merits.
> You mean they can downvote already? Yes, and they should still be able to do it, so this vote is (still) needed.
No, I mean staff can flag and delete posts, etc.
> Many disagree votes tell the reader that there's likely a good rebuttal among the replies
No it doesn't. It tells the reader that a certain number of HTTP POST requests have been made. It means nothing.
If there's a rebuttal that's better than the comment it rebuts, let it be upvoted.