The Bodda Getta

I would downvote this, but I'm out for the day. The NWO has a tendancy to use up all of my downvotes in the morning.

In the meantime, you'll have to settle for a verbal.

DOWNVOTE.

Well, so far you have three down votes and two upvotes, so you stand at -1. The purpose then, would be to inform you that out of five people, three didn't agree with you, and two did agree with you.

I think what you'll find is that, just like in conversing with people face to face, you can say just about anything (within reason, of course) as long as you say it respectfully and with an acceptable tone and attitude. It also helps to throw in some practical and reasonable support for your position.

I've found that if you do those things, it's relatively hard to get down-voted into oblivion. If you come out guns ablazin' and in a condescending way with a piss poor attitude, you might get down-voted for that way, way more than for what you were actually saying.

Personally, after being on here pretty much everyday, I have down-voted probably fewer than 10 posts, maybe as few as 5. And it has pretty much ALWAYS been because of someone's attitude, not because of what they had to say or their opinion.

How does being upvoted or downvoted prevent you from voicing your opinion? Are you not free to say whatever you want (within the website's general guidelines)?

How is it any different than if you went down on a street corner and started exorcising your right to "free speech"? If you start saying a lot of stuff people don't agree with, they may stand there and yell back at you, tell you to shut up, or start a picket line around you.

People are just as free to voice their disagreement with you (by way of down-vote) as you are to voice your opinion.

Not sure how your speech is limited because of agreeing or disagreeing votes.