The only times I've really been downvoting is if someone is giving out completely incorrect information, like in a support thread or something, and confusing matters. It's not a personal judgement or anything, just trying to keep things clear for the person asking the question.

If I disagree with a comment, well no biggie. Sometimes it's worth discussing like adults and sometimes it's just a subjective opinion. If it's offensive, I'll report it and block the user.

Depends on what kind of "I don't agree". If somebody asks for people's favorite food, I'm not going to dislike all other answers... But if it's a more serious question, and an answer just has a really bad take that I don't agree with, that's getting a dislike.

Sad part of the design is that I need to interact with a post to get it off my feed so if it's an some stupid meme or whatever i just downvote and move on to clear up all the repeats.

The setting is off by default but you turn on hide post after interaction in the settings.

Downvote for bad technical advise, I think the person is a bad actor/bad faith argument, or if the person turns ~~hostile~~ to ad hominem attacks. I try not to downvote if I'm putting the effort into debating someone.

edit: for clarity

Downvotes = disabled on my instance

More like get this shit outa here

I think someone else mentioned the same here, but as I've browsed down the opinions, I wonder if it's good for different communities to have their own subculture on what votes mean.

For sure, outsiders dropping by might vote 'counter-culturally' and unhelpfully, but you can get a general sense of understanding in a community.

For r/all-alike stuff I'm sure things are different.

I only downvote hateful stuff or obvious bots and spam. The same as I do on anything with upvotes and downvotes.

Upvoted. Feel bad that i disagree. 😵

I like it to gauge what the general consensus is. Agree or not.

I think of it like a digital facial expression. Upvoting is akin to smiling or conveying some other positive emotion like affirmation or understanding (even if the subject matter is inherently negative). Downvote is the opposite- someone says something irl that makes you frown or grimmace, or you know they're telling you a lie, your expression can convey that without a single word. Here, downvote.

There's no real etiquette - if you feel like you want to give an up or down vote, just do it and don't put too much thought into it.

It's weird how nobody ever goes off on these philosophical treatises about what a downvote is REALLY supposed to be for unless they copped a shit ton of downvotes for their awful takes

To quote the famed philosopher T. Soprano: "Alright, but you gotta get over it."

The latter. If it's just disagreement a quick reply is best, and sometimes it gets worked out just fine.