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[–]bowlbreakfast 24 points25 points  (5 children)

It's funny that even you are getting downvoted. But really, I'm going to be frank, this subreddit isn't what it used to be. There are these days these haters lurking around and downvoting just anything and everything that deviate the slightest from the usual conventional requests.

Even worse, I see it happens so often that as soon as a new post with the default 1 upvote appears, these haters downvote it to 0 and the post will disappear immediately from the front page, only appear on the new queue. And since not everyone checks the new queue, and only skim the front page, these posts, often legitimate, are slaughtered from inception. The poster's only fault is perhaps being too old, too young, being NEW, or not particularly well spoken or just trying to be creative.

I'm just ranting but a year ago, I would without hesitation recommend this sub to everyone as the best penpal site on the internet; not any more.

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (4 children)

I'm sorry you feel that way. Are there any changes you'd like us, the moderation staff, to make to help the climate return to what you once considered great?

There's really only so much we can do. We are limited by Reddit's functionality and we can't stop people from downvoting.

[–][deleted]  (2 children)

[deleted]

    [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

    That's just a CSS trick. You can still downvote if you disable custom subreddit styles or if you're a mobile user.

    And I also think that we've already done that, so if you're asking me to do it again, you're kind of demonstrating that it's already failed.

    [–]bowlbreakfast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Ah well, I'm aware not much can be done to completely prevent downvoting as it's such a fundamental feature of reddit. After all, I just hope people be a little more tolerant for gosh sake.

    Perhaps, as other commenter mentioned, it looks like there is now a new feature for mod to make a sticky post on top of the all other posts in the sub. Perhaps this is a good place to put a couple of instructions, rules and reminders altogether. (I saw something like that in /r/needafriend.)

    [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (4 children)

    Hello good moderator of /r/penpals!

    I have an irrelevant question. Hopefully you do not mind. There used to be a /r/penpals FAQ on the sidebar, but it has been removed. What happened to it, and why isn't it up there anymore?

    Thank you for your concern!

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

    The link wasn't functioning properly and it's been removed until it can be fixed.

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

    Ah, thank you for answering. I have been dying to know the reason, but have never had the courage to ask.

    One more thing I promise. Three days ago /u/scattering_words made a meta-post where [s]he addressed an issue about people not marking their posts as "filled" or politely declining offers. Post itself was quite popular, and gained a lot of peoples attention. Yet, as days have passed and new posts are coming in, then the meta-post isn't anymore noticeable, nor does it seem like people are using the "flair" system. Would it be possible to refresh the subreddit sidebar and make a notice/announcement/rule etc about the "flair" system?

    I'm not sure if that would help anything, but it is a thought nevertheless.

    [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    I'll make an edit to the sidebar right now, emphasizing the flair system.

    [–]scattering_words 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Thanks for the support! I'm glad it got as much attention as it did.

    [–]thetebe 4 points5 points  (2 children)

    A quick note to this post, you can now pin it so that it is always on top in this sub, I think this should be there.

    [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    I didn't realize they added that functionality. Thank you!

    [–]thetebe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I only saw it because I have a Very small sub myself. Quite handy.

    [–]delerium23 4 points5 points  (3 children)

    You do realize that reddit automatically ads downvotes to posts.. you can never have posts with zero downvotes.. they do it to even stuff out! Im not saying this is the issue and im not saying folks arent downvoting.. im just putting the info out there!

    [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    I'm aware of that and I've read the FAQ. This submission is aimed at downvotes that I'm sure aren't from Reddit's automatic system.

    [–]delerium23 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    thats cool.. ive just noticed on other subs that people are unaware and get very upset when downvotes appear.. so i figured it was worth pointiing out just in case!!

    =)

    [–]tra7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Thank you so much for this. I am pretty new to reddit and so I didn't even know there is a redditquette. Or what the up/down votes are. This will sound really stupid but I thought they were similar to a Facebook like. So thank you for this very educating post!

    [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Thank you. I really appreciate this from the mods!!
https://www.reddit.com/r/penpals/comments/1js1gg/please_refrain_from_downvoting_submissions_for/
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