---
title: "What is Upvote / Downvote? — Social Media Glossary | Postpone"
canonical_url: "https://www.postpone.app/social-media-glossary/upvote-downvote"
last_updated: "2026-10-08T07:18:38.784Z"
meta:
  description: "Upvotes and downvotes are the two halves of Reddit's voting system, which decides how visible a post or comment is and where it ranks."
  "og:description": "Upvotes and downvotes are the two halves of Reddit's voting system, which decides how visible a post or comment is and where it ranks."
  "og:title": "What is Upvote / Downvote? — Social Media Glossary"
  "twitter:description": "Upvotes and downvotes are the two halves of Reddit's voting system, which decides how visible a post or comment is and where it ranks."
  "twitter:title": "What is Upvote / Downvote? — Social Media Glossary"
---

**Reddit**

# Upvote / Downvote

Upvotes and downvotes are the two halves of Reddit's voting system, which decides how visible a post or comment is and where it ranks.

[**Reddit **post scheduler](https://www.postpone.app/platforms/reddit-post-scheduler)

Reddit's democracy in action. Every post and comment has two arrows — up and down. Click up if it adds value. Click down if it doesn't. The net score determines what rises to the top and what sinks to the bottom.

This isn't a like button. Downvoting is just as important as upvoting, and it makes Reddit fundamentally different from platforms where content can only receive positive signals.

## How Voting Shapes What You See

Reddit's algorithm weights early votes heavily. A post that gets 50 upvotes in its first 30 minutes ranks higher than one that gets 200 upvotes over 12 hours. Timing and initial momentum matter more than raw totals.

Within a subreddit, posts are sorted by "Hot" by default — a formula combining vote count, vote velocity, and age. Comments use a similar system, which is why the most upvoted reply appears directly below the post, not buried under dozens of mediocre responses.

Downvotes do more than reduce a number. At -5 or lower, comments get collapsed and hidden. Posts that hit zero effectively vanish from the subreddit's feed. Heavy downvoting can also trigger rate limits on your account, restricting how often you can post or comment.

## What Gets Upvoted

Content that teaches, surprises, or entertains. Specificity wins — a detailed breakdown of how someone grew their subreddit from 0 to 100,000 members outperforms generic advice every time.

What gets downvoted: obvious self-promotion, generic responses, anything that feels like it was written by someone who doesn't actually use Reddit. The community can tell when you're there for them versus when you're there for yourself.

The vote system creates a feedback loop. Highly upvoted content attracts more viewers, which attracts more votes. Posts that don't gain traction in the first hour rarely recover. This is why posting timing — [matching the subreddit's peak activity window](https://www.postpone.app/best-time-to-post-on-reddit) — matters so much on Reddit.

Your vote counts are public. Everyone can see the score. There's no hiding behind vanity metrics when the community can collectively decide your content isn't worth their time.

**Example**

A well-timed post in r/technology that hits 500 upvotes in the first hour can reach r/all and get seen by millions. A post downvoted to zero disappears within minutes — no matter how good the content is.

## **Why It Matters**

Votes are the single biggest factor in whether your Reddit content gets seen. Unlike follower-based platforms, your reach is determined entirely by community reaction, not by how many followers you have.

See how Postpone handles this in our [**Reddit post scheduler**](https://www.postpone.app/platforms/reddit-post-scheduler).

## **Related Terms**

[Algorithm](https://www.postpone.app/social-media-glossary/algorithm) [Contributor Quality Score (CQS)](https://www.postpone.app/social-media-glossary/contributor-quality-score) [Engagement Rate](https://www.postpone.app/social-media-glossary/engagement-rate) [Karma](https://www.postpone.app/social-media-glossary/karma) [Reddit Front Page](https://www.postpone.app/social-media-glossary/reddit-front-page)

[**← Back to Social Media Glossary **](https://www.postpone.app/social-media-glossary)