Thanks for the feedback so far all! I've been teetering on if this would be good or bad for TPU's community as well as I've seen such systems on other forums (notably ARS and Reddit come to mind). And on both, it is used well and also abused, but is moderated, at least in the sections I frequent.
I feel ultimately W1z wants to allow the community a chance to decide what it does/doesn't want without derailing directly into fights, insults, toxicity, and other off-topic BS where an otherwise good member and topics get drug down into oblivion. That is where I can see this upvote/downvote being useful on the member side.
I am also concerned because depending on how we implement it, obviously some users will abuse it, as said in the other thread. As said earlier, some folks that like NV or Intel will downvote AMD posts...but fanboy-ism is something we have always seen and it is something we'll have to deal with regardless of what is or isn't implemented moving forward. Fanboy-ism in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing as brand bias that can be constructively shared and understood, but the toxicity-driven, immature, insult-filled, ego-fed BS that can stem from it is something this forum can do without regardless of what happens. That and other areas that drag users and topics down is what can hurt the community.
I do like
@EarthDog suggestion about letting the OP decide the best answer for their thread, I'm not even sure
@W1zzard is looking at this as an option but I do see this working well in most cases on other forums, well beyond tech forums. Not sure if that is something on the table or not, or if the work to implement it is worth the effort. There will also be those soured when their solution isn't chosen, just like we still have when a user helps a member but their post isn't thanked, now they feel like they shouldn't have to help others.
- Do you guys think choosing the best answer will help some topics?
- When the best answer is chosen, should the thread remain open or should it be closed at that point?
Knowing some people, they will just use it to abuse the people they dont like on these forums by down voting every post they make
I agree as stated above, and is a concern. But it is abused wherever I've seen it used, and ultimately after some effective moderation it does seem the system can be quite effective and allows the community to drive the kind of content it supports. I've been thinking about this being useful here or not since it came up not long ago and haven't drawn a conclusion quite yet...but the more I think about it, the more I think yes it could. We just have to implement it in an anonymous fashion, and I feel this would have to completely do away with the thanks/likes system that exists today.
The last thing we need is users bickering because someone downvoted them. No thanks, we have enough drama without extra features between users. But if it is anonymous, and community driven, maybe some users will get the hint the way they're treating others, going off topic, going against the guidelines, etc. isn't something that folks want to see. If they don't get it, they start losing posting privileges via reply bans, infractions, etc. as their posts are downvoted, reported and we see them.
Wouldn't the "score" of the post be the sum of upvotes and downvotes?
Good question though, should we display individual votes? with usernames?
I like the median score idea as well, but I think Reddit does the "sum" style though and it works well enough and seems to be a little more aggressive for downvoted posts getting hidden that I've seen at least. Depends on how quick we want downvoted posts go get hidden/flagged as low quality or whatever.
IMHO, we should not publicly display who up/down voted on any post, I feel that's asking for more problems than it would solve by being anonymous.
How about on a up or down vote, you get nothing until say 5 people acknowledge it
I like this, that adds some weight to posts being affected by up/down voting. Though I do wonder if a weighted system would work here, it really depends on the topic and number of individuals interested and involved. But I like it!
As
@rtwjunkie and
@EarthDog have suggested, I have been on DIY forums to see the OP selects the post that best fixed the problem. An OP (not mod selected) answer that is highlighted reduces the clutter of votes.
As for being best solution, if the OP feels it helped the most, then it is a valid option. Obviously, such a system only works where technical help is required.
I still feel properly enforced moderation (less tolerance of idiotic posts) would make TPU far better than any voting system.
Agreed, if there is going to be any kind of "answer/solution found" situation, it should be chosen by the OP. I do like this system and have seen it work well elsewhere, not 100% sure it'll succeed here but I'd be game to try it. Not my call but I appreciate the feedback!
I actually like that Dorset. It brings it to a mod attention, with not the same stigma as report, for them to review for being off-topic.
That is an interesting suggestion, and I guess it depends on what is decided as we all proceed from this thread, the low quality post tool, and what W1z ultimately decides. Thanks
@dorsetknob for sharing your thoughts on that prior.
- Would you rather have a "Report LQ Post" over a community driven upvote/downvote system?
Thanks for the feedback so far folks! Let's keep this going and keep it constructive.
. This isn't including soft moderation where banned members were allowed back in...
