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.