We have discussed (several times) what people downvote (Dups and Blogs, mostly), but I haven't seen any real discussion of what everyone thinks is worthy of an upvote.

For myself, it is less about whether I agree with what is said, and more about whether it is participatory and advances the conversation. I would rather see 10 posts about how wrong my opinion is (and why) than 1000 "Yeah!" posts.

I must admit that if you are off topic, but you make me laugh, you get an upvote.

I also find that I am more likely to upvote "friends". I would like to think they are friends because they often deserve upvotes based on my previous criteria. But I must admit that sometimes it is a chicken/egg situation. Did I upvote because I like the person, or do I like the person because they are so often worth an upvote.

I must admit that I have a selfish reason for starting this thread. In a recent thread, I let loose a cold and cold-medicine induced "my government is stupid" rant that include the use of the terms that are less-than-supportive descriptions of my elected representation. I know the thread was being read, because many of the comments were upvoted pretty high. I noted that none of mine had any. No downvotes, but none up either. It occured to me that I may be deciding upvotes on a different criteria than the typical Plimate.

I am not going to change my criteria, but I am now curious as to what the rest of you do, and what result you expect from your upvotes.

I often upvote ideas even if I don't agree with them. Its good to voice your opinion on a matter, so I upvote. I also upvote the youngins (karma wise) to get them in the game and get them with the rest of us quicker.
Other than that, I'm pretty lose with my upvoting, and rarely downvote. Also, I like to upvote thread starters for giving me the potential upvotes in the future. ;)

Humor.. civility.. photos of eye stitches.. intelligence.. more info on the topic.. and sad personal things (for when I can't hug).

I do no upvote when someone is just asking for one (like, this is worth an upvote, right?)

For me it's a reflex action most of the time. I also generally upvote comments that are in my links (which themselves are few and far between), but that's more often than not a knee jerk reaction too.

Humour, wit and in general well thought out comments tend to get some. Interesting facts, especially if they're about large guns or interesting cars.

Well...
Comments:
*Insightful
*Funny
*Praise (for me, mostly)
*Starting a great thread
Posts:
*Funny
*Interesting
*Amazing

That's about it.

Great thread topic steelshooter!

I find, like makri, that it's often just reflex when I upvote. I like interesting posts that I haven't seen somewhere else before, comments that are entertaining, amusing, thoughtful...

I have rarely downvoted anything except blatant spam. If a new user posts to their blog, I don't automatically downvote, but try to post the FAQ info in a comment. But it depends on the content of the blog/site.

I do downvote repeat spam, even when the post is already deleted - case in point "College Candy" blog. Maybe they'll get the hint. The sorority girls may learn that there's other ways to participate here. Or...maybe not.

As for dupes, if I like the post, I will upvote it if I haven't seen it before, particularly older posts or a very different and informative link, and go to the original post and upvote that too.

Edited to add: And everyone here gets an upvote for responding!

I upvote what I think is good, funny, informative, and interesting. I don't downvote though.

Talking about College Candy, I don't think they got your hint, suebe.

I just downvoted them. Go give them another blast!

I'm very free with my upvotes, and tend to upvote everyone and every thing regardless, and I can't remember my last downvote. I don't upvote links unless I've followed them personally and know they are good.

But I'm not stingy with them. Just the kind of person I am, I guess.

I just down-voted every one of you.

Nah, I'm kidding. They were all upvotes.

Here's why; you were expressing yourselves clearly. That's a big one for me. I also give out upvotes if I think it's funny. It doesn't matter if I agree with you, if you expressed yourself clearly and weren't blatantly hostile; you get an upvote.

Sometimes, when someone is clever, expresses theirself clearly, and makes a valid point, I upvote them twice.

Letting the upvote process be a reflex leads to some confusion sometimes - mainly when I'm on some other forum and hover around in a top right corner of a post and feel confused.

I do that too. Then I think "pfft, primitives, no voting system".

How? Do you have some secret account used just for double voting? Do you go find something else by that person and upvote it?

I absolutely agree with the policy of upvoting for discussion value. If someone expresses a point contrary to mine in an appropriate way, I tend to upvote in order to honor a good debate. I also sometimes upvote picks that I already know without actually following the link, just because I know I like it. Maybe this does not completely comply with the idea of plime, which often determines the quality of a link by its newsworthiness (so, if I already know it, it's not really what I expect of plime). Nevertheless, and because no one knows which links I've known before, I give credits to such links.

I do willingly upvote political contents which I regard controversial, but only if they are posted in a way that indicates a critical reception. I remember one recent pick [which did not go very high, btw] that featured a very lopsided and biased political video that fueled up some some discussion. Usually, I would have credited that, but the title and description of the post just repeated the bluntly intolerant message of the content itself. I think plime should not be instrumentalized like that.

Of course, funny or witty posts or free girlscout porn links are always granted upvotes, too.

Same for me. Other forums become increasingly dissatisfying by and by due to that.

It's an old ninja secret. The answer lies here.

Thank god I use a status/target bar.

PS: I also upvote creative mobbing.

OK ... it appears I agree with everybody on the downvoting.

Also with most of the comments w.r.t. upvoting. I do not only upvote opinions that I agree with, but I ignore some posts that are just stupid or below the belt. (I don't mean hilariously-funny-stupid, that deserves an upvote.)

And then I tend to upvote some people to keep the "conversation" going. There may be a better way to see this somewhere, but I rely on upvotes in my own profile to see if I've had reactions to anything.

Some days I feel like the upvote fairy, giving them away everywhere I touch down. Especially in happy threads.

Some days I'm a tad bit cranky, and I horde my upvotes like a sniper in enemy territory, with one clip left.

Most days I'm somewhere in between.

Articles, I vote on if they interest me, or if I believe they are newsworthy.

I hardly ever downvote. Even if it's a repost. As long as it's on the all links page, I see no reason to pop the submitter.

My take on it...

Like Subobisis, I try to upvote new members just to get them up and running. I consider the content they are posting but I tend to be much more generous... until they're ready to "leave the nest".

I upvote anything that I find interesting, informative, or humorous. I "know" what my friends tend to post, so I often check out their stuff first.

Because I'm stubborn and I like to argue, I upvote controversial posts or opinions if they make me think (even if I disagree).

I upvote people who contribute new information or viewpoints that advance conversations and stimulate discussion (even if I'm not part of it).

If I post a question in the forum and people take time to respond with something other than "yeah" - it's an upvote.

I usually don't downvote things I dislike except on Tuesdays and Thursdays. ;)

I will downvote spam and blatant self promotion 7 days a week.

If I think something is lame, I'm much more likely to just leave a smart ass comment (with no upvote). It's all part of my Plimocratic oath: "Do no harm"

I will ALWAYS downvote someone who is personally attacking another member.

And finally...

I do not horde my karma (because it just doesn't matter). I didn't do it with a ranking of 1 and I don't do it now.

I'd like to see everyone who takes the time to contribute to Plime - also be successful. If my points will encourage them to come back and participate more, so be it!

And for the record, I upvoted everyone who took the time to respond to this thread (diggity!).

Cows! Cows and chicken sex...wait, monkeys doing Paris Hilton. Yeah, upvote.

Shouldn't they be "Asian" cows and chickens?

Yeah, "Asian." (don't get me started)