Yeah this doesn't make sense. I don't know if they don't understand how YouTube works, but downvoting something doesn't remove the content from view. On sites like reddit and hackernews downvoted comments become less visible but they are still there. I don't think anywhere that implements downvoting ends up "censoring" that content based on just downvotes.
Making it harder to read is tantamount to censorship. It also erodes the user experience. Why do I need to highlight or squint at something a ton of ignorant people disagreed with?
Okay but we are talking about YouTube. YouTube doesn't even do this. Nothing changes about your experience watching a video if it has a lot of dislikes.
A) you can click on the time / hours ago to link to the comment without lightening
B) text selection
C) I think HN is one of the least ignorant communities out there on the net. Occasionally downvoted comments are merely controversial or against the grain, but more often then not, they are flawed in some way. In fact their rarity makes them neat to read (high surprisal) if only to understand where they might be coming from.
Deciding which content to promote and which to bury is censorship however you do it. There's more content than human attention, if you promote one piece of content, whether you choose to do it chronologically or with updoots or Google bosses deciding what's true, you're "censoring" something else by crowding it out.
Yes, although it could be mitigated, by having different sort order options and allowing users to adjust scoring options, including to accept or disable scores put in by others. (Local scoring is something often done in NNTP. Some NNTP clients also support global scoring, although a better more simplified and general format suitable for many programs might be helpful, and must ensure that users can easily disable that feature if it is not wanted, as well as to adjust weights that apply to it.)
You seem to be yet another person who needs to get a lot more acquainted with the definition of "censorship". Words have meanings. Comparing the mere promotion of some content over other content with "censorship" is gravely ignorant, for starters, and also, it's an insult to all those who have suffered from actual censorship.
Please learn the difference and don't gaslight people about this.
