Disclaimer: I'm not a reddit fan.

I'd like to ask if the site owner would consider removing/changing the voting system. My main criticism being that it enforces conformity, which can turn into bias.

For example, as a new user with no expectation, I posted freely until I made a couple of comments that were heavily downvoted. Clearly because I'm more left leaning than board average.

At first it didn't bother me, and I let the comments stand. But then I learned I had to get to level 15 to earn invites: that's when I caught myself deleting a post before anyone could react as I knew it may get downvoted.

It got me thinking.

Beyond turning the road to level 15 into something of an unappealing grind for me personally, I see the following problems:

1. The conforming effect of the voting system would tend to mould user who are new to feminism into positions that are heavily slanted conservative/reactionary.
2. Left leaning feminists are discouraged from expressing their views because of the potential downvotes.
3. They are as a consequence also less likely to reach level 15, and invite people who have similar views to join.
4. This further slants board average toward conservative positions.
5. The biasing effect is reinforced in a vicious circle from (1).

I'm assuming Ovarit strives, on the basis that being a woman is a biological reality, to gather feminists of all political persuasion (please correct me), so I thought it may be interested in keeping a balanced representation.

My ideas to that end:

• make votes renewable limited supply (eg: you get 10 votes per week) so people think twice before they "spend" it.
• make the upvote/downvote ratio public on user profile: so people know whether you are a positive person, or a negging one
• make downvote available only if you have responded to a post/comment (with min. char. limit)

I'm sure people who run the site know the system better than me, and my ideas/analysis may appear ridiculous or naive. Still I thought it was worth a shot to throw it out there, on the off chance it can spark something.