Michael, great post. Upvoted. I will continue reading once finished asking question here:

2-3K for live-in nanny??? How many years ago was this? Lol

Folks in the industry today claim market average is at least 6K for aforementioned live-in ayi in Kunming.

Michael, studies have shown upvotes/likes/hearts can be abused by ads to self promote product or services. So not just self aggrandizement.

You'd think Facebook and Twitter have done their research for viewership optimization and bullying/abuse by focusing only on upvoting, like the recent change here.

Though lemon's integrated upvote and downvote buttons are implemented by YouTube, much of it done for algorithm to gauge viewing habits as practiced in Tiktok/douyin.

Trumpeter, mods being judge, jury, executioner have actually cleaned up the site rather well in recent weeks, wouldn't you say?

Cloud, downvoting due to irritation of certain posters is perhaps one of the reasons GOK opted for this change.

I just inquired those in the know regarding nannies in Kunming that are able to caretake a 7 month old child.

They cost around 5,000 per monrh for 8 hours a day 6 days a week. These are 40-50 year old women who can't speak English. Younger nannies who could speak English reach 15,000 a month for same hours.

I'm not in academia so I can't calculate financial feasibility for you. Stay strong, and best wishes.

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...

Btw, it's great that Kunming buses are designated with GPS to track current location of each bus. Displaying approximate arrival time would also be useful. Yes, the city government should create or outsource English language, user friendly APP versions to tap into their real-time transport network with traffic conditions, not just a clear and up to date visual bus route map for foreigners.

Perhaps GoKunming and their developers can partake in such initiative. Great exposure opportunity from marketing standpoint.