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Lemmy votes ARE public, should they be anonymous? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 4 months ago by lalo@discuss.tchncs.de to c/fediverse@lemmy.world

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Currently, almost anyone in the Fediverse can see Lemmys votes. Lemmy admins can see votes, as well as mods. Only regular Lemmy users can't. Should the Lemmy devs create a way to make the votes anonymous?

There is a discussion going on right now considering "making the Lemmy votes public" but I think that premisse is just wrong. The votes are public already, they're just hidden from Lemmy users. Anyone from a kbin/mbin/fedia instance can check out the votes if they are so inclined.

The users right now may fall into a false sense of privacy when voting because the votes are hidden from Lemmy users. If you want to vote something and not show up on the vote list, please create another account to support that type of content and don't tell anyone.

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[-] thoro@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I typically operate under the assumption that basically anything I decide to post on a public forum is not private.

Call me crazy, but I care less about the instance admins being able to see my vote history than regular users. For me the latter will produce a chilling effect on how I operate with the site moreso than the former, even if admins have more power that can be abused. I was already aware of the votes not actually being public and the idea admins could see that info seemed to be a given, but I still think there's a difference between having a motivated malicious user go out of their way to look (making an instance, looking on a different platform, etc) vs making it simple for lay users to see that info within the platform itself (which I what I think is under discussion, currently).

And honestly, if a solution could be determined to help make votes anonymous but still allow admins/mods to deal with bots/trolls, then I'd be all for it.

[-] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 4 points 4 months ago

For me the latter will produce a chilling effect on how I operate with the site

Why?

[-] eletes@sh.itjust.works 8 points 4 months ago

All it takes is some API calls and some simple python scripting and you could data mine a person. Maybe they subconsciously only upvote LGBT posts. Maybe they downvote leftwing posts.

Then, oops, one day they post something that can doxx them and now they're getting targeted ads or worst case a stalker or someone who wants to get them fired/thrown in jail.

Now imagine a machine learning algorithm or AI has done all the data mining and it took just a couple days to work through all users on lemmy.world.

If there's any data that could be used to make money someone will eventually try it.

[-] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 months ago

The same argument could be made about your posts. Maybe a user tends to post things that aligns with a certain group, just as easy to track that (if not easier) for targeting.

Not to mention anyone with the tech to do this already can by creating their own instance so they can view votes.

[-] skye@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

okay but you make posts with the expectation they are public. Votes only change a number, and are a way for you to show support/disagreement for something without broadcasting it to everyone.

If you want to broadcast it and make it public you can reply to a comment

[-] MeThisGuy@feddit.nl 3 points 4 months ago

same thing you should teach your kids..
anything you put online can (and probably will) be used to identify you, as ad and ip tracking has done for a long time.
and once it's on the webs, it's always on the internet. no erasing pictures or tweets.

that's how it has been, that's how it'll always be

[-] thoro@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Because if lay users can see how I vote within the app, then I might start being harassed by people for daring to downvote them or daring to upvote someone. And may stay tracking my voting habits.

In which case, I'd probably stop voting.

Having a barrier to that info is better than no barrier even if it's not impossible, imo.