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comment by Merrill
Merrill  ·  3797 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Downvotes *are* bad for the community.

I would think that a healthy community would not have any down/up/like voting system in place at all. A voting model encourages people to judge without comment. If you are posting in a format that uses a voting system, you may be a needy person who wants validation of others, not a discussion on the topic. If any system were to be implemented, I would recommend something like a trending, most shared or most discussed tag to ascertain the posts viability/popularity.





kleinbl00  ·  3796 days ago  ·  link  ·  

The problem is that "votes" are necessary for any sort of sorting algorithm, and sorting is a fundamental part of aggregation. Otherwise you're just compiling by time and it looks like a PHPBB (at best) or /b/ (at worst).

b_b  ·  3796 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That's true, but there's nothing necessary about displaying the votes, is there?

kleinbl00  ·  3796 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I suspect participation is higher when the outcome is visible. I have nothing to back that up other than gut feeling, though.

Might be a fun experiment - turn off the wheels for a week and see what happens.

b_b  ·  3796 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Probably. Everyone likes a gold star. I used to cringe at the students who proudly accepted their perfect attendance award at the end of the school year. Arbitrary awards are the worst kind. And internet voting is nothing if not arbitrary. (I secretly hope this comment gets a billion upvotes and a badge.)