I would like to propose replacing up and down voting on comments with emoji reactions. Since Lemmy doesn’t have a consequential karma system, I don’t believe the gamification of comment upvotes helps engender a discussion with a diversity of opinions. Instead of a binary choice, we will be able to express a far greater range of reactions. I see emojis as being especially helpful as a replacement for downvotes since it will help the author understand why the reader disagrees. While I agree that replying instead of downvoting is a better choice, it’s not realistic for everyone to have the time to do so.
For posts, voting serves a useful purpose in creating a curated list of most popular posts in each community. This is important for people who don’t have time to follow all posts in their subscribed communities.
True, it’s hard to express emotion consistently. Even if the emoji has a caption “This makes me mad,” although it is conveying the emotion it’s not conveying the reason (I am angry as well, I am angry because I disagree). But we can gauge controversial/emotional posts.