Suggest forum contributors recommend constructive criticism for <thumbvote v2.0>.

The system is a great first step to peer moderation, without overt censorship (posts are still readable).

As for what may or may not be legitimate down voting - the site administrators can easily identify single users with multiple aliases, if they were so inclined and motivated.

Kudos to Yereth and the team for finally implementing an initial form of peer-based moderation. Great service - especially since I didn't pay for the implementation, coding, testing, etc.

Now, if you guys would/could code in a universal search bar on the home page, as opposed to forcing us to dig down a level to get to the search bar - that would be absolutely wonderful!

@Michael
Absolutely. Who cares about the thumbs button, GoK would be so much better with a decent search function (date ordered)

Why have the "thumbs down" buttons suddenly disappeared?

Because trolls and spam can be reported to us via the contact form: www.gokunming.com/en/contact/

This implies that the only reason someone would have voted a comment down is that the comment was in his or her opinion trolling or spamming - as opposed to common disagreeing.

With that shortcut to show simple disagreement taken away, it is possible that persons considering their disagreement necessary enough to be broadcast will now reply in writing - which then invites trolls and spammers that might otherwise have stayed away.

I kind of understand that it serves a function to remove the downvote option, but the reasoning given above seems a fail.

Agree with JanJal.
(But if I didn't I can not down vote my disagreement)

The "thumbs down" was a way for the GoK community to show general disapproval of a post, whereas an individual sending a "report of trolling" about a poster is time-consuming and a lot more vindictive. I think it's a backward step.

Possible addendum to GOK's truncated explanation:

Until outright banishments of foul players, attempts at silencing spammers with downvotes have hitherto proved unsuccessful. Uninvited trolls would crawl out insofar they aren't met with their guillotine comeuppance.

Non-trolls in disagreement may now be more compelled to interact in these threads. Perhaps to voice their opinions in their handle bodies, with awareness of civility, as witnessed in comments above and hopefully below...

If you only have 'thumbs up', having it at all is useless. Just eliminate it all together. If you have an upvote then you must have a downvote to make things balance.