Like the title says, if you want to upvote something on KBin, you should use the Boost link, not the upvote button (Why? Don’t know…)
The upvote button doesn’t seem to do much, but Boost accomplishes what Reddit’s upvote did. So if you’re looking to encourage a post, use the Boost link.
Boost as a “shout out” being public is alright. I guess for us Reddit folks it’s like a cross post to our own u/sub that followers could see.
Upvote/downvote, though, should be private. Not sure if that’s ever truly possible though because by the nature of the fediverse it has to be replicated across to other instances and so everything is “open” as I understand it.
It may not be easily visible in the UI but it’s there in the data.
So I try to think of everything here like it’s a postcard not a letter.
Any mail carrier who sees it (and makes a copy) can see it all.