Having a healthy forum in 2017

02/14/2017 01:22 PMPosted by Aarkriidkein

!@#$ off. Just no, alright? No.

Why tho? Because you got butthurt someone downvoted you? People are free to downvote as they please, no matter what. They are allowed to disagree.

This is called free speech and what you are asking is the silencing of free speech.

I mean, some people just can't be bothered writing so they downvote to show their opinion. I'd be someone like that if I wasn't such an English hor.

Reading this while thinking...

"...free speech means the government can't arrest you for what you say. It doesn't mean that anyone else has to listen to your bulls**t, or host you while you share it. The 1st Amendment doesn't shield you from criticism or consequences." -xkcd

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Anyways, agreeing with OP in a vein, and others here. The downvote system doesn't really serve a purpose in the current environment (and it is abused more than used properly). We've been talking about what we think would be better - getting rid of downvotes, getting rid of votes entirely, etc. - but we don't have any definite consensus among our team yet.

Upvotes, however, do serve a purpose in generalizing community perception to certain topics, and it helps us to track what is 'generally' agreed upon.

Anyways, I'm interested in you guys' thoughts on this since you use this forum too and all.

02/14/2017 02:11 PMPosted by Brissandy

Usually the more rational, thought out, and well spoken a post is on this forum, the more downvotes it has.

Funny because it's true. :P

02/14/2017 02:37 PMPosted by Alisiaa

Upvotes, however, do serve a purpose in generalizing community perception to certain topics, and it helps us to track what is 'generally' agreed upon.

I have to disagree with this to an extent,

Having upvotes without downvotes denotes a "Popular" discussion, not that someone is necessarily correct in what they're

If you just suppress the opposing side, then you make something look better than it is.

Yeah, it can be inaccurate at times, but you still need a way to show people "This guy is agreed on, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's right."

Other than reading it, just cause some people don't...well...read.

My point being Upvotes/Downvotes tend to sway how the argument will be met, and some people may not be as willing to disagree with what appears to be a popular opinion, even if it should be.

Yes, that's true. If you have one without the other, upvotes would only denote popularity. I was more leaning to its current form.

02/14/2017 05:03 PMPosted by Annastasi

Anyways, I'm interested in you guys' thoughts on this since you use this forum too and all.

So....downvotes don't serve a purpose, but upvotes do

you don't get to have it both ways. How can you say upvotes give you a true idea of how the community feels about something, in the absence of downvotes?

492 upvotes.. must be an idea the community can get behind.

except, 492 upvotes, 952 downvotes...adding the downvotes to the mix tells a different story.

They don't serve a purpose when they're abused.

Like when Warlock players (luv u) were going through Dev Q&A threads and downvoting everything that wasn't a question about Warlocks. That makes the system serve no purpose.

02/14/2017 05:22 PMPosted by Wanobi

One thing I can tell you right off the bat that would make the forums a better place: not ignoring what goes on in the lounge threads.

You sound fun. We should grab tea sometime.

I'll give you some buttons for this post to see how it does:

[+ Like] [- Dislike]

<span class="truncated">...</span>They don't serve a purpose when they're abused.

Like when Warlock players (luv u) were going through Dev Q&A threads and downvoting everything that wasn't a question about Warlocks. That makes the system serve no purpose.

Sure, but that's a problem separate from the ability to downvote. Those same warlocks could have been going through and upvote trolling replies about warlocks. The same result - bad/trollish data making warlock threads looking "better" than non warlock threads.

I have to solidly agree with the belief that upvotes without downvotes isn't healthy, and is basically meaningless.

I'm not necessarily advocating for that solution, it was just an idea that's popped around. This community wasn't ever meant to be self-moderating like subreddits are, so that's why the 'purpose' is a bit unclear.

02/14/2017 05:28 PMPosted by Virus

02/14/2017 05:17 PMPosted by Ornyx

Like when Warlock players (luv u) were going through Dev Q&A threads and downvoting everything that wasn't a question about Warlocks. That makes the system serve no purpose.

Going through and up-voting other lock questions that i wanted answered sure, down-voting a "Locks are fine QQ moar" type post sure i can see that but locks en masse down-voting anything that isn't warlock related i find that very hard to believe.

It happened, unfortunately. Not the first time, but it only takes a few.

Edit: And yeah, I think we are in agreement. The 'right' thing to do in situations where Devs are reaching out for Q&A questions is to upvote questions you want answered. No question really deserves a downvote unless its off-topic.

02/14/2017 05:29 PMPosted by Wanobi

02/14/2017 05:27 PMPosted by Ornyx

You sound fun. We should grab tea sometime.

I used to work with people who were victims of sexual assault.

There's nothing "fun" about the experience, or those who make light of it.

The lounge threads are moderated, just like all others. Maybe not in the moments you see them, but you have my word that I see numerous deleted posts throughout all of them. As we've always said, if you see a post that you think needs moderation: report it. Those are looked at very, very often.

02/14/2017 05:35 PMPosted by Wanobi

02/14/2017 05:30 PMPosted by Annastasi

why though? people don't always have paragraphs of deep thought to contribute to an issue. But they read it, they have a reaction to it.

how is "holy cow this is the most stupid post I've read all year" more productive than a -1?

how is "great idea, chap!!" more productive than a +1?it's not.

especially considering the "I agree" and "I disagree" posts might be considered "non constructive" posts under CoC. Makes far more sense to have a simple button to push...let's say a thumbs up if you agree...and a thumbs down if you disagree. It keeps the threads free of those little cluttering posts and frees up more space for those who want to discuss the issues at length.

In its base form in a perfect world, yes.

When "I disagree" becomes "you're stupid" and "I'm a troll", the entire system breaks down. It doesn't happen everywhere, but it happens enough, in important places, that we are aware that it's an issue.