My experience is that I witness flagging typically done inappropriately and not out of genuine concern that something is toxic, spam, inappropriate or otherwise.
As for dislikes and a hivemind, these forums already have one. A dislike feature would be abused no more than the like feature is and no more than the flag feature is currently. And such a feature would, hopefully, deter false flagging (although you don’t view this as happening often, that’s okay).
You clearly werent there when dislikes existed, it was hell.
Frankly, I don’t mind bringing back the down vote option. But, if people don’t like that, then how about getting rid of the up vote option instead. If you want more communication then force both sides to do it.
Down vote was good in my book jerks on the forums deserve to get downvoted into oblivion.
I wasn’t an active forum user at that time. I believe you. 
Fully agreed.
Likes without Dislikes are a meaningless, superficial effort to paint everything in a positive light, at the cost of the count actually meaning anything at all.
It is OKAY if some posts get dislike bombed into oblivion. Not everyone has to agree with everyone. Just don’t attach the “bury” function to dislikes like it was before. Save that for actual reports/flags, not up/down voting. The bury feature was the only issue with downvoting.
At the end of the day, up/down voting lets people leave their opinion without regurgitating the same stuff people have already said 20 times in the comments and it paints a clear picture of how a post is being received.
I want it back.
To me it doesnt matter much having a lot of dislikes is the same as having 0 likes, its just not displayed. Obviously this doesnt apply to posts that dont contain an opinion. I will say what they do need to do is fix the report function the way is works now is more harmful to the forums than helpful.
We meet again. 
Not really.
0 likes could mean the post is hated by everyone.
Or it could mean people are neutral to the idea.
Or it could mean the thread hasn’t got much traffic from active users.
With a Like / Dislike feature, you that’s all cleared up. If a thread has 0 votes, it isn’t getting traffic, period. No other explanation.
I wouldnt worry too much about it. What’s important is that people get to share their opinions and others say their piece. That’s the data that’s important. You can have a bunch of likes and dislikes. But without people saying what they did/didn’t dislike they are useless numbers most of the time.
That’s the difference between a poll and a forum. 
boooo! DOWN VOTE DOWN VOTE DOWN VOTE*
The tech team in charge of migrating the forums also had a vision for the new forums, these that we’re using right now.
It wasn’t just an A to B move but a conceptual shift as well and I’m sure they hoped that their ideas would take root and reach fruition in the community by sheer force of impetus and perhaps that has happened but perhaps not everyone sees it.
Why do we not have down votes?
Because this is a forum, a form of communication and interaction. If you disagree with something you are expected to get into the thread and give voice to your position.
Interestingly enough, this also gives other people the chance to agree or disagree with you in the same fashion.
This is what produces discussions and dialogues.
The vision for the forums was one of interaction not push button dismissals that end interactions.
Now I can understand why one might want such a thing. It is much easier to just click a button to stop a conversation that it is to take part in that conversation and run the many risks involved.
Looking silly, being proved wrong, making a mistake or just being unprepared for the caliber of the discussion can make one hesitant to join even a calm thread much less a tempestuous topic rife with contention and tumult.
But the expectation is that the conversation will be joined. That is how you “dislike”.
Why to we have up votes?
Because “I agree” is less than ten characters.
If you agree with another post, everyone already knows why, its in the post.
If you disagree with a post, no one knows why unless you tell them.
So do that.
Forget about your dislike button
and use your words.
I appreciate you taking the time to think out the state of the forums and to write a very articulate and clear reply. I’d like to point out that your stated premise, however, is that a dislike feature would somehow deter users from posting. This is an assumption that I believe is false.
I also am not requesting a down-vote feature out of laziness nor fear of being argued with. I would just like a more accurate representation of a post’s true reception. Rather, currently, we only see that posts are either liked, or not. We are, as of right now, unable to see how truly disliked a post is, unfortunately. I’d like that to be changed.
Additionally, I would like to ask, on the old forums did the dislike feature deter posting?
Please show me exactly where I said your topic shouldn’t. There are no downvotes. So how exactly does that equate? Shocking how without a downvote system threads stay alive. As opposed to when we did have downvotes and topics were dead before they started.
There have been multiple versions of the forums. So maybe in one of them that was true.
Of course, you’ll obviously believe the one person who claims they know the truth, when we’ve had multiple forum systems in the past, but not others. Not going to ask for their proof, eh? Shocking.
And guess what? That right there proves that one type of downvoting on one of the forums truly and really did silence people.
And you get one by reading the thread. People shouldn’t be lazy. They need to do some reading, instead of just outright dismissing it once they quickly glance at some numbers.
All I’m hearing is, “I refuse to believe others who have already answered this, because I must have someone agree with me so that I can feel like I’m right.”
And here’s your blue posts on it. Thankfully Wowhead has them:
I too would like to see downvotes return. I promise I won’t downvote to just downvote either.
Jeez, you seem a little… upset. The thing about taking your word was a joke. I don’t know how more obvious I could have made it apparent my comment was tongue in cheek. I don’t really see any arguments to consider countering except for some insults directed at me.
You really need to chill out. 
Thanks for the link.
I’m not upset. Just blunt. Though slightly annoyed that this circular conversation keep going. Enjoy the read. I’ll bow out from this conversation completely now.
There are currently downvotes which can hide posts. It’s called flagging. Despite this topic being flagged enough times that it has been hidden three times and restored three times is a testament to the fact that a dislike or downvote option would not impede discussion.
Are you okay with that, really? Wouldn’t you rather an actual downvote option instead of having people essentially silenced?
It was a joke, relax.
Innuendo that I’m lazy. Nice.
No one answered this. The claim you made was that the dislike feature was abused from what I can remember. I highly doubt the feature stopped anyone from replying. It was only an add-on to a reply, more than likely.
Anyway, good riddance.
I kind of understand what OP is saying, before you just got down voted to oblivion but that would just bury your thread but not in a suspension like what is happening now. Now the only way for people to down vote a thread because they don’t like they result to flagging a false report which ultimately could lead to the poster being suspended for simply saying something people disagreed with.
Yes bring back the down vote button