Site Post » Comment Rating · 6:57am Dec 16th, 2012
No doubt most of you have noticed this by now, but comments around Fimfiction now make use of a thumbs up/down system. By clicking the thumbs up icon you increment that total by one, and vice versa for the thumbs down icon. Pretty simple stuff.
The goal of this system is, at a high level, to improve comment quality on Fimfiction. By allowing users to agree with posts it saves a lot of need for short posts that don't further discussion but still add their view. It also incentivizes better quality comments as people are more likely to upvote them. On the dislike side of things it makes it easier for us to find poor quality posters and spammers and automatically hide their posts, but we can only do this effectively if people make good use of the system, so please use it a lot, but responsibly!
Things you should thumbs up
People who add insight to the discussion
People who make interesting new points
Comments that are friendly and helpful
Things you should thumbs down
Spam posts
Posts that have no purpose in the discussion, eg "Adding to my read it later list" and image macros
People who post rude comments about other people
Things you SHOULDN'T thumbs down
Comments that you disagree with but are otherwise not offensive and not spam
Now if only I could thumbs up a blog.
Good luck with this system, I mean we see how well it works on youtube...
The purpose behind this idea is good, but I sense a lot of misuse of this feature in the future. We'll see, though. I hope I'm wrong.
Do you seriously think people will do that?
617630 <-- This
This system is a great way to assist authors such as myself who not only require, but often request helpful comments, and reviews. Too may times I find myself wanting an actual comment, and not getting it till the 50th.
The system has been working well enough for me thus far.
617628 And what exactly would happen if it received a great deal of thumbs up or thumbs down if that were the case?
Misspelled "insight". I think adding "incite" to a discussion might be a bad thing...
The evil part of me wants to downvote everything.
Just wondering....... with this new system...... is there going to be like a new stat board?
Something like the "most liked" or "FIM most wanted" list maybe pretty interesting.....
So, you're saying that me telling an author that I plan to come back a little bit later in the day/week and read it then and leave some feedfback once I do deserves a thumbs down? Last I heard that was common fucking courtesy.
Interesting concept, and I believe I see what exactly you are aiming to do with it in the long run (First thought that comes to my mind is the YouTube comment system were X downvotes to Y upvotes qualifies it as spam), only time will tell if it works or not.
Still not a fan of you suggesting to downvote folks who give the courtesy of saying 'hey, I see your hard work here, and I do plan to read it'.
>"incite" instead of "insight"
Go to bed knighty.
617644
Why could you not make that same comment when you do come back and have some feedback to give?
image macros aren't so bad, unless they are used in excess.
As always you have made something nice. Hopefully it will be used as such.
617638 Well, it would show that you support the idea or ideas of a blog post for those who are too lazy to comment. People such as myself.
All I'm trying to do, is make Knighty work harder so I can work less; is that so much to ask for?
617644
It's not "common fucking courtesy," it's a waste of everybody's time. Why not just leave a comment when you DO read the story? Who cares if you're gonna read it "eventually"?
617644 Problem: People say that, and aren't heard from again till your next story. Guess what they say then. "Will read later".
This makes me feel powerful.
Too interesting to thumbs up around stories that are too AWESOME, when your reading and you cant stop.....
617651
I believe he means only when that is the only content of the post, rather than used in conjunction with other things.
617628
I wish there was a spot to see blogs posts and updates like story posts and updates. But I agree, thumb uping blogs would be awesome, as would a viewcounter.
This is a nice addition to the comments section. I've noticed quite a bit of spam in comments in the past, hopefully this works well enough to clear that up. You are probably going to have problems with users misusing the thumbs down button because they disagree with a comment.
Also, you misspelled insight.That was a fast...617658
We're all too fucking tired.
Hate this tablet. Can't mouse over to use the quote button. To answer you two, while yes, some folks do indeed claim that and then run off, I tend to use em as a way to track which fics I still need to post comments on. No matter what system there is, nothing is perfect, I simply disagree that it should be considered something that is an automatically downvoted. Then again, it probably doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things.
WTB method to quote that doesn't require me to mouse over. No mouse makes it hard. xD
617668 Oops, thanks for the pointer.
617672
You could always use the 'read it later' or 'favorite' feature to recreate that same functionality. Insofar as I'm aware, there's not any means to see a list of comments you've posted, so your justification makes even less sense than the above.
Either way, it's certainly not a point of contention, but hopefully you can see why it might be frowned upon.
617666
Yeah, but this is a problem on every site, even sites like Reddit where they actively work hard to try and encourage users to NOT do that, especially on subreddits like /r/science in particular. All we can do is just beg users to not misuse it. We think it will be more beneficial than detrimental in the long run.
617665 But bro... THERE ALREADY IS A VIEW COUNTER!!!
Surprise!
617672
Usually on touch devices, touching an element will make it act as though you are moused over it. We could probably come up with a better mobile solution, but for now that should usually work.
617679
O shiza.... Did that happen during the last update?
Anyway
Edit...
Huh with 4 people leaving comments and 2 views I am confused, maybe it is only after a certain point?
NTSTS, I guess not everyone has OCD and bookmarks everything I suppose, lol! Really, it doesn't really matter all that much in the end, however time and further changes will tell just how useful it ends up being.
617683
I should also point out that we aren't like, enforcing what things you "should" downvote, those are just things we are pretty heavily suggesting people should be downvoting.
617680 I don't think I've ever seen you talk to this many people. It must be the Christmas spirit invading your soul to cleanse it of the sin.
This... isn't a good change. Everwhere I've seen it put into place it goes wrong rather spectacularly. Maybe this will be the exception, but I doubt it.
Poultron, I appreciate the heads up, but it's probably the fact that Apple simply sucks when it comes to supporting anything not directly related to or involved with them. However, y'all did make seeing the original post being quoted much cleaner, overall the changes were good.
And honestly, I was raising a stink for no reason now that I thought about it, suppose I should've learned by now to think a bit more when I'm tired, eh. I really hope this system works out how y'all were hoping for it to go.
617688
Poultron has a passion for le epic voting systems.
617688
I do this often on blog posts, but I've been away from the site until recently. This is usually my primary job on the site.
as of right now do the votes lead to any action being taken? such as moving a comment up further in the comment section if upvoted or hiding a comment or even deleting it if downvoted? if not is this the next step? Or is it more of a preview one can see before deciding to read an entire comment and to lessen amount of pointless reply's when a dislike or like would work just as well?
p.s. scootaloo is soooo cute :)
617682
The view counter only affects things after it was put into place. Old blogs all have 0 views
617664
I see. Thanks for clarifying!
617690
We appreciate the feedback in any case. We'll be monitoring this carefully but we don't suspect right now that it will be a major issue.
In regards to your Apple device... they do have a bit of trouble with web support, yes.
617693 Talking to people? Christ, I couldn't do that. I'm sick of people just by working front desk at a used bookstore, let alone a site with over 9000 people on. Luckily a good number of people on here are fine chaps, so that helps me cope.
617680
Firefox Mobile for Android doesn't seem to do that unfortunately. I really would like to see this site made more mobile/tablet friendly though...
617693 And you do a fantastic job. Just saying.
So... Anyone wanna see how many thumbs up I get?
...Just kidding. I really like this system. It's short, simple, and sweet, and now it will (most likely) only take a glance to tell a good comment from a bad one.
617695
Not right now, but we might use it to better identify "problem" users who often post garbage, or to help us better detect spambots. One idea (that we aren't planning to implement right now) is that posts with an exceptionally high number of downvotes could be automatically reported to the moderation team.
But other than that no, the voting system will not directly lead to any moderator action at this time.
Eh, I really don't see what effect this will have one way or the other. Some people will use it, and others may never even realise it's there. *shrug* I'm taking a 'wait and see' approach, but I don't believe it will be something I use or will effect the way I post.
617701
Yeah, I work register at a sandwich shop, so I'm used to customer service.
617703
Thanks, it's nice to hear! I appreciate it.
617628
I'm not entirely sure how I might agree with you constructively; thank god I can now simply upvote you.
617644
You know, it's actually a bit annoying to see that; since the value of upvotes depreciates rapidly over time, especially for oneshots, it genuinely feels a bit like saying 'I don't actually care about this story enough to read and judge it when my opinion makes a tangible difference'; even if that isn't genuinely the case, I'd imagine that's how it comes across.
I don't really believe that that sort of conduct is constructive and if you're not going to read the story you might as well not tell the writer so in what essentially amounts to a somewhat irritating sort of euphemistic speech.
617658
...or in my case, come back to the story a year and a half later, making useful and insightful comments on each chapter, long after the author has moved on and stopped giving two zap apples about the fic in question.