I have noticed in the Python Forum there is nothing but -1's on all of the threads except one.

So what i was wondering is can we limit the amount of down's a poster can do?

For example a member such as myself could do up to 10 down points per day, while JBennet will be able to do 50 and a new member will only be able to up ones that they fund useful. This will stop useless downing.

Just hopefully that will stop a new person just going around stuffing up the system.

mvmalderen commented: Good suggestion. +0

Recommended Answers

All 36 Replies

I guess its meant to be self-governing, some dick will put things down, and someone else will put things back up again, and *hopefully* it evens out (kind of like vandilism on wikipedia).?

Yeah. i have just been noticing people putting things down for absolutely no reason. Constantly as well, in the Python forum every thread was -1, and only the first post had been voted on.

So thats the kind of thing that i would look at fixing.

First you people want a non-destructive rep, then you got one, then you hate it. Make up your minds people! :P (j/k)

It's not so bad, the most damage one person can do is -1. Every time I see a post I think shouldn't be voted down, I vote it up. Or, if you can't be bothered with that, ignore the voting system altogether, I'm sure other people will take care of it.

I find voting the voting system quite addictive somehow.

mmmm.. I understand what everyone is saying, and i agree it would be great. And i do upvote if i believe it was a good point. But i just dont like the fact that a new person can come over and down vote everything.

Oh well, hopefully as a responsible community we will be able to fight this by upvoting when necessary :).

Yeah. i have just been noticing people putting things down for absolutely no reason.

Lawl.

Member Avatar for diafol

Are we metavoting now?

I HATE the new voting system. The add to rep was ok as it was - no need to add this nonsense. Now you get horrible -1 in bold type and really gaudy updown buttons. This just asks for some #@!* to start being a *&#~ing idiot. Is it there just to annoy people, to encourage them not to post?

Please Dani, take them away, my eyes hurt.

commented: Tis true. +0

I want to give it a few more days to see how the "letting anyone vote up or down at anytime" is going to work out. The premise behind it is that any member can only affect anyone by ONE, and it only takes one other person to offset them. So it isn't as if someone on a rampage can really do much damage.

Also, it wouldn't make any sense to say that new members need to earn their down voting rights, because the people who are downvoting like crazy are regular members who are just trying to prove a point.

commented: ;) (Sorry, just bored and depressed.) +0

I think that it needs time to settle. The whole idea of such a voting system is that it employs the 'wisdom of crowds' and as such we can only see if it is actually working or not over time.

The concept is certainly sound enough, and has been successfully employed at many sites. If it works here or not, well we cannot tell yet, but Dani gets my full support for being bold enough to keep trying new ideas at DaniWeb rather than being happy with a static approach to site design.

About 1000 people voted on posts yesterday with another 1000 or so people voting today. So time will only tell. So far there has only been abuse by a single member who may or may have not posted in this thread ;) Right now I don't think we need to put any other measures in place ... everyone has just one vote to use as they see fit.

I agree that Dani deserves kudos for trying new ideas and keeping the site fresh.
However, my concern is that this voting system is uncomfortably similar to the eBay feedback system (among others) which i detest. Having worked for companies that trade on eBay i know first hand how frustrating a subjective system can be. You work hard, bend over backwards and do all you can to help someone, then get downvoted because of their skewed perception.

I have spent a LOT of time in one thread trying to help someone. They have not understood the concepts we have given them, even though several members have explained it as clearly and simply as possible. The poster has then gone through and DOWN voted ALL of my replies!! The posts were subsequently upvoted by other users; all but one which is sitting on my post quality page like a stain on a clean rug :'(

I understand that, as Dani points out, a downvote can easily be countered by sensible readers. But i can honetly say i find it hard to bring myself to continue helping if i am going to be down voted out of spite/ignorance...or (as the case was) because i am not willing to spoon feed them their entire project. :/

Member Avatar for diafol

I agree with Ryshad. Somebody gave me -2 votes for expressing an opinion. What on earth does this mean? Does this mean that my opinion shouldn't count or that 2 people have bothered to disagree? Who knows?

While I agree that Daniweb should continue to develop its service, this is one mod that I can't stomach. I feel it is devisive and unnecessary. When I see -1 or similar next to a thread heading, I get the automatic urge to ignore it. Sounds daft, because I'm aware of it, but that's how I feel nevertheless.

Carry on voting posts down dear posters - it'll save some server space as people stop bothering to contribute.

That -2 was probably because people didn't like your opinion, and you came along as being slightly agressive and unwilling to give things a chance. The numbers say what people think of your post, that's it, it doesn't take into account whether the person who voted was an idiot or not. I think you're taking it a bit too seriously.

Change is never easy to get used too, I still prefer the old daniweb style, some people prefer the new style more though, and I'm not willing to argue over it.

But i can honetly say i find it hard to bring myself to continue helping if i am going to be down voted out of spite/ignorance...or (as the case was) because i am not willing to spoon feed them their entire project. :/

Don't take it too serious. If you have an opinion, people are going to agree/disagree with you. It's nothing more then a number on a website, I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it ;)

commented: Exactly! +0

I agree with Niek_e its just a number. Nothing to get too fussed about. :)

EDIT: yeah i know this is kinda a turn around from the start of the thread ;)

First you people want a non-destructive rep, then you got one, then you hate it. Make up your minds people! :P (j/k)

Funny Funny HaHa (j/k) :D

Who exactly asked for this, especially for how damned migrated this "voting system" is becoming on a day-by-day basis??

To analyse;

  • first a voting system to agree/disagree with opinions/posts
  • then we see on profiles a "notation" of neg v's pros votes
  • now we have the entire tracking of voted posts

All while the voters remain cloaked!!

Now all this is fine and dandy, but consider this. On the old system, rep-hits/comments were not anonymous, so one could evaluate hits based on who was was doing the "repping", as well as reviewing said comments. This means two things:

  • ppl looking up another's profile could evaluate the credibility of rep comments
  • ppl being maliciously targeted could report the offenders

This new system is blind on all fronts.

Now I'm looking at my own threads - and yes I know I know am capable of ruffling a few feathers when I set my mind to it - and have taken hits on posts/threads that, while being completely harmless, simply wasn't up someone's alley. As a result, public rep goes down a notch for nothing. Given the feedback, can see I'm not the only one who has concerns over new system. While "votes" remain anon, while hitting the target's credibility, it is wide open to malicious use.... not happy Jan! If ppl want to either vote or Rep-Hit, at least keep them accountable.... it removes room for abuse.

Member Avatar for diafol

Here, here KL, unfortunately can't give you a vote, coz I already gave a thumbs up to somebody else on here. Wish I could retract my vote and give it to you. Hmmm.

If it's just a number and that we shouldn't get worked up about it (i.e. it's not sufficiently important), is there any real need for it?

To reply w.r.t. my jumping in without giving the new system a chance, this system is not new. It's new to Daniweb, that's all. This system (or pretty similar) was implemented on a couple of other forums I used to use and was taken down sharpish.

Regards,

Anticipating thumbs down.

If it's just a number and that we shouldn't get worked up about it (i.e. it's not sufficiently important), is there any real need for it?

There's no need to get worked up about it if you get down-voted once or twice, that doesn't mean the system's useless. You're not supposed to take the rep system seriously either, doesn't mean we should get rid of it.

This system (or pretty similar) was implemented on a couple of other forums I used to use and was taken down sharpish.

It's also been implemented on many other sites successfully, such as Youtube, StackOverflow, Digg, and many more.

> Here, here KL, unfortunately can't give you a vote, coz I already gave a thumbs up to somebody else on here. Wish I could retract my vote and give it to you. Hmmm.

HUH?

Member Avatar for diafol

> Here, here KL, unfortunately can't give you a vote, coz I already gave a thumbs up to somebody else on here. Wish I could retract my vote and give it to you. Hmmm.

HUH?

Sorry cscgal, saw the up/downs were grey and assumed they were disabled. Why are they greyed out?

Sorry cscgal, saw the up/downs were grey and assumed they were disabled. Why are they greyed out?

Probably because people were complaining about them being in color. But if you click up or down array the arrow will change color.

In another post Dani said we would be able to change our vote, but I have not seen that ability yet.

[edit]Oops! yes that does work afterall, I was able to toggle from 1 to -1, but not from 1 to 0. I guess that makes sense because 0 represents no vote.

It's also been implemented on many other sites successfully, such as Youtube, StackOverflow, Digg, and many more.

YouTube is the worse example possible, since if you've ever delved through enough video comments, you'll notice that: anyone who post something with thought, but in any tone disagrees on a single aspect will be down-voted in a swarm; all the while, if a user post the most retarded single liner comment such as, "'b4nd xxx' ftw" or possibly(more than likely, really) things even more idiotic they receive a swarm of up-votes.

Of course, most YouTube'ers best forms of argument lie with words such as: gay, f**, and (.)(.)

commented: (.)(.) ftw +0

@William

TY S(.)(.) much for link... been cacking myself all evening :D

I've wasted many hours of my life on that site :icon_eek:

Member Avatar for diafol

Lazarus here!

Am having 2nd thoughts about this now. Seeming to work to an extent - better that I expected - on my second helping of humble pie.

However, I'm seeing a few negatives for the first post of a thread. Would it be more prudent to disallow voting on a question? I realise that some threads don't start with a question but perhaps with a suggestion, comment or challenge. Some newbies have received negative votes for relatively innocuous questions. It must be really disheartening. Contributors can always ask for clarification or further info if required. Forums rely on questions as well as good quality solutions. I would imagine it's the equivalent of being "flamed" for a newcomer to the site.

Hehe yes i have loads of downs on my thread i posted on this base the other day (Current @ -4)

Totally obsurd :D

Funny Funny HaHa (j/k) :D

Who exactly asked for this, especially for how damned migrated this "voting system" is becoming on a day-by-day basis??

To analyse;

  • first a voting system to agree/disagree with opinions/posts
  • then we see on profiles a "notation" of neg v's pros votes
  • now we have the entire tracking of voted posts

All while the voters remain cloaked!!

Now all this is fine and dandy, but consider this. On the old system, rep-hits/comments were not anonymous, so one could evaluate hits based on who was was doing the "repping", as well as reviewing said comments. This means two things:

  • ppl looking up another's profile could evaluate the credibility of rep comments
  • ppl being maliciously targeted could report the offenders

This new system is blind on all fronts.

Now I'm looking at my own threads - and yes I know I know am capable of ruffling a few feathers when I set my mind to it - and have taken hits on posts/threads that, while being completely harmless, simply wasn't up someone's alley. As a result, public rep goes down a notch for nothing. Given the feedback, can see I'm not the only one who has concerns over new system. While "votes" remain anon, while hitting the target's credibility, it is wide open to malicious use.... not happy Jan! If ppl want to either vote or Rep-Hit, at least keep them accountable.... it removes room for abuse.

Thank you, kaninelupus
I was going to add to this thread, but you have done it for me.
Thanks again

Don

Thank you, kaninelupus
I was going to add to this thread, but you have done it for me.
Thanks again

Don

Could someone explain to me why I received a down vote for my reply to this thread. Seems a little undeserving.
Or better yet, why doesn't the person who down voted my reply man-up and say why.

Am I missing something here.
Sure seems like a sure-fire way to discourage people from posting and possibly not even returning to DaniWeb.

commented: I'll man up. +0
Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.