---
title: "What is the difference between upvotes and downvotes?"  
description: "What is the difference between upvotes and downvotes?"  
author: "Minal Tiwari"  
published: 2025-09-13  
updated: 2025-09-19  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/115715/what-is-the-difference-between-upvotes-and-downvotes  
category: "troubleshooting"  
tags: ["troubleshooting"]  
reading_time: 2 minutes  

---

# What is the difference between upvotes and downvotes?

## Answers

### Answer by Himanshi Gupta

[Upvotes](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/96082/how-do-i-see-my-upvotes-on-reddit) and downvotes are like buttons that tell if we like something or not. When we give upvote it means we like the [post](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/255/post-get-and-request-function-in-php), it is good, and we want more [people](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2295/more-people-need-to-monitor-this-crucial-metric-for-heart-health) to see it. It is like giving a thumbs up. If many people upvote, the post goes higher and is seen by more people.

Downvote is the opposite. When we press downvote, it means we don’t like it or it is not useful. It is like saying no, this is not good. If a post gets too many downvotes, then it [goes down](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/81230/india-economic-growth-goes-down-while-hope-for-recovery-is-there) and less people can see it.

It is like a [voting system](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/302796/blockchain-and-voting-systems) in class. If teacher asks what [game](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/44320/web-development-trends-that-are-changing-the-game) to play, and many [kids](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/300585/bow-legs-in-kids) raise hand for football, then football wins. Upvotes are like raising hand yes. Downvotes are like saying no.

But sometimes people [misuse](https://www.mindstick.com/news/4008/youtube-s-latest-tool-helps-to-take-action-against-ai-voice-clones-deepfakes) it. They may downvote even if post is correct just because they dont agree. So it is not always fair. Still it helps to keep good [posts](https://www.mindstick.com/news/1939/as-market-for-digital-collectibles-tanks-meta-linked-instagram-s-nft-posts-to-facebook) on top and remove the bad ones.

So the [difference](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/398/difference-between-object-type-and-var-type) is upvote = good, downvote = bad. Both together decide what stays visible and what hides.


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Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/115715/what-is-the-difference-between-upvotes-and-downvotes

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