r/ExplainMyDownvotes

I noticed that when I commented on political and some other subreddits my karma started heading downwards, fast. In other words I got a lot of down votes. Consequently I stopped commenting, unless I agreed with the other posters. I didn't want to go to zero, which started to look inevitable. Have you had similar experiences? If yes, do you think it would be better if Reddit showed both up and down votes and the sum separately?

I posted about Rick and Morty yesterday and even in casual conversation with people my comments just get downvoted with no response, is it just people simply saying they disagree or?

Hi everyone. I'm trying to better understand the technical mechanics of the karma system. If a single comment receives a large number of downvotes, is there a limit to how much it can negatively impact the total account karma score, or does the deduction scale indefinitely? Thank you!

This is a brand-new Reddit account I created today after deleting my old one, and now I’m wondering if I made the wrong decision.

My old account was over 2 years old. I didn’t use it much at first, but during the last year I became much more active and had quite a bit of engagement.

At some point, though, a few of my posts got downvoted and my karma dropped to around -13.

My intentions with those posts were genuine. I was mostly trying to share things I thought could be useful to people. But after my karma went negative, I started noticing that newer posts weren’t getting much engagement.

Maybe the posts simply weren’t interesting enough. But I started wondering whether the negative karma was affecting their visibility.

So before posting more of the useful content I normally like sharing in my field, I spent quite a bit of time participating in other communities and trying to get my karma positive again.

It barely moved.

Eventually I got frustrated, gave up, deleted the account, and decided to start fresh.

And now here I am with a new account wondering:

Was deleting a 2-year-old account over -13 karma a bad move?

Would you have kept the old account and worked your way back up, or started over too?

I've had what I suspect is POTS for 15 years now. I've been going to my GP about this since I can remember and after I was hospitalised over a year ago for severe symptoms (including fainting and injuring my neck while sitting watching TV) I was finally put on the waiting list for a tilt table test.

The hospital cancelled the 3 times last minute due to staffing shortages and each time I had to wait over 3 months for the next test.

So today in the middle of a work meeting I got a call offering an appointment on Monday after they had a cancellation but I found out after the call I don't have anyone to take me to the hospital.

I'll take an Uber to and from hospital but I'm very scared about being by myself when I get home in case something happens. I've heard some people say it takes a whole day for them to recover. I've booked Monday off work but I'll be home alone for the whole week.

I'm trying to call the hospital using the phone number on a letter to me to see if I can book transit with them but the line always cuts off on me.

It also says "You must not drive on the day of your test and should ask a friend or relative to accompany you to this appointment"

Does this mean I need to cancel it and rebook it if I'm unaccompanied? Is that just a recommendation or is the test really that bad?

I've tried to call up the hospital all morning but the phone rings until it's cut off and I can't find any other number or contact info.

To make things worse I have quite bad cardiac health anxiety (triggered by fast heart rate, palpitations, chest pain, fainting) because my dad died from a heart attack a few months ago (his main symptom before he died was fainting)

And it's warm here, 38C / 100F today and no air con in my home or in the hospital.

I’m new to Reddit and recently made a post in a community. It initially got around 10 upvotes, and my karma also increased to 3. But after some time, I noticed that the numbers had suddenly dropped to 1.

I’m a bit confused about why this happened, especially since I followed the community rules and guidelines. Is this normal on Reddit, or has anyone else experienced something similar?

A friend of mine was diagnosed with ADHD as a child but her parents were strongly against giving her any kind of medication for it. Now she's considering it but has heard of people getting depressed because they function so well on it that they feel intense regret for how much better their lives could have been and sometimes even slip into a depressive episode. I've been prescribed ADHD medication since I was in elementary school so it's normal to me but I can understand why someone would feel that way. If I skip a dose, I have a hard time completing even enjoyable tasks. If I go a long period of time without it (like when there was an Adderall shortage a few years ago) my life slowly dissolves into a chaotic mess.

I’m still pretty new to Reddit, and honestly… I find it kind of intimidating.

A friend encouraged me to join a while back, but also warned me to be careful. After spending some time here, I think I understand why. I’ve seen a lot of new accounts get heavily downvoted for seemingly harmless comments, and it’s made me nervous to participate at all, even on posts I genuinely enjoy or agree with.

Now I find myself second-guessing whether I should comment or post anything, which is a bit discouraging. I want to engage, but I don’t want to accidentally become a target just for being new.

What’s considered a “normal” or safe amount of karma for a new user? And do you have any tips for participating without constantly worrying about downvotes?

Thanks in advance. I really do want to be part of the community.