Downvoting Comments · 12:23am Feb 18th, 2013
I really, really wish they hadn't inserted this bullshit downvoting-comments system... before, you actually had to get your backbone out of your gym bag and tell someone when you thought their comment was stupid or you disagreed wtih it or were offended. Now, you can just press a button and hide in a corner. This is inspired by my listing off things that I thought were wrong with out "The Magical Mystery Cure" episode did the Twilicorn transformation in response to someone's review of the episode. I promptly got downvoted a few times but it took a while before one of the people who disagreed with me came out and said something. The others (assuming the person who explained themselves was one of the downvoters) remain hiding in a corner, free to express their disagreement but without being forced to voice it and face having their disagreement dissected and dismissed by me if it's poorly-reasoned or stupid. I have lots of respect for people (a user named 59caddyel comes to mind) who strap on their balls and come after me with a cluebat if they think I'm full of crap instead of taking the easy way out and pressing a little button. There was lots of drama in the argument I had with 59caddyel but the bare bones of the matter was that two people who disagreed weren't afraid to affix their names (or, at least, online monikers) to their opinions for the world to read and judge. I deplore the ability to just downvote comments without being compelled to sign your name or give a reason because it's the easy way out. You don't have to take any responsibility for your opinion, you don't even have to express your opinion, and you have no incentive to stop and ask yourself "why do I think this, and am I prepared to put my reasoning out there for possible criticism?" before mouthing off in a rhetorical sense.
Comment downvotes are definitely a bad idea.
I don't think it is that big of a problem, overall. About the only time I ever see a comment get bombed on is when someone is being really rude or for very inane stuff, like saying first. That being said, I would not have a problem with them changing it so you could only thumb up comments.
840913 It's not so much a big problem as very exasperating. If someone disagrees with me, I want to hear it. I want to know why they disagree, how they disagree, and have an opportunity to defend my opinion to them. The downvoting pretty much takes that away, and I don't like that much.
The problem is that comment downvotes don't get used for the proper purpose. People think it is supposed to mean "I agree with this" or "I disagree with this," when in reality it should be a system for dealing with spam/bullshit uselessness. Helpful stuff, "here's what's wrong with it and how it can be fixed," should be upvoted. "I plan on reading this story later!" is utterly pointless and just gets in the way. I think the system, if used properly, would be a fine addition to the site and a good way for admins to find people who repeatedly shitpost and become a menace. I'd also like it if the thread OP, or blog poster, or story author could have some kind of "special" upvote/downvote, so other people could specifically see what that person found helpful or insightful instead of just adding it to the tally.
TL;DR, I don't think the system's bad, I think people just misuse it. Which is why I don't really care. People too chickenshit to voice their opinions aren't going to do it whether they can downvote you or not.
Also, where's the comment or whatever that got downvoted? Can you link it? Sounds like a discussion I'd like to see.
Indeed but if not for the downvote mechanism, the chickenshit ones wouldn't get to express their discontent at all.
I'll link it, but I think you wont' care. I asked your opinion of the Twilicorn deal in PM at some point and you didn't seem to give a shit so I'm not sure how much my comments thereon will matter to you.
http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/129468/episode-review-magical-mystery-cure#comment/837714
841785 Oh, goodness! You replied to me without replying to me, so I didn't get a notification. Whoopsie.
Upon reading some of the comments on that blog and adding in my own opinions, I wouldn't mind penning a response to your opinions at some point. Remind me to do it later. I've been typing and group-ing for several hours and I don't want to philosophy tonight
842189 ...that thing I said in PM about never meeting a guy who used the phrase "oh, goodness"? Forget it.
Ally, stop and think... why would I want to invite you to cluebat me again? You are totally not getting a reminder.
Just kidding... I'll try to remember to remind you.
I was disappointed that I couldn't just downvote your blog. Not that it was a bad blog, but I just wanted to be a contrary jackass.
On a slightly serious note, I can see why someone would want to downvote a comment and not say why. Maybe they don't have the time or energy to fight off the troll who posted the comment, but they disagree with what was said. Are you forgetting the amount of trolling jerk-offs who routinely look through this site? There are a whole lot of people who just don't want to deal with their bullshit, and they don't want to become the potential target of a troll raid.
I don't agree with the people who downvote an honest comment without reason. However, there are some comments that don't need to have an explanation for being downvoted.
851881 In that case, why have the downvote mechanism? If it's a troll, make it painless and easy for the story or blog owner to obliterate the offending comment.
851913
I was under the impression that you could delete a comment if it was on your own blog page. They must have changed that. I haven't tried it in a while.
We have downvotes for the same reason we have upvotes. Sometimes you want to express your opinion about a comment without commenting on it yourself. I doubt anyone would accuse you of being cowardly for upvoting without explaining why you did so. Is it lazy to do that? Yeah, a bit, but some people are lazy. You can rant all day long about how they shouldn't be, but where will that get you?
On the other hand, it's not like downvotes or upvotes actually effect the status of the comment. If the system was like the comments on 'youtube', where it hides the comment if it gets too many downvotes, then that would be something different. That would actually serve a purpose, other than effectively sending someone a frowny face card with no return address.
On a side note, why do we have upvotes and downvotes on stories when the five star system was superior? I've heard the admins argue that "it was inaccurate since some people will just give an automatic five stars", and they think that people shouldn't be allowed to do that. So I guess that justified swapping over to a binary rating system, where you're FORCED to give the equivalent of five stars if you liked it. They couldn't even be bothered to put an extra spot in between "good" and "bad" for those stories you felt neutral about.
There's a significant difference between the two. If someone approves of what you think or write or do, they're not implicitly saying they think you need to improve. If they disapprove, they're implicitly saying that something you're doing or writing or thinking needs to be reassessed or somehow improved. So if someone is saying that you need improvement, telling you why you need improvement or how to improve is important in a way that it simply isn't with an upvote. My feeling is that if someone says "needs improvement" to a comment (or story) without bothering to say why, they're either afraid to put their opinion out there, and possibly have it exposed as absurd, or they're lazy, or they're just an ass. None of those three possibilities speak well of them.
I think that is how it works.
A combination of laziness and the administrator obsession with "improvement" without stopping to ask whether the improvement actually improves something. I've see the changes they made to this site as being nothing but downgrades: the stupid upvote/downvote system, the removal of the feature box, a crowded front page, and all the other stupid little things that were done for no other reason than "it'll improve it". I wish they at least had the decency to figure out how to imitate Google and other services and allow people who didn't like the "improvement" to continue to use the old version. I desperately MISS having a permanent feature box perched at the top of my page so that no matter where I am, I know what's getting the most views and praise from readers. I hate this idiot "upvote/downvote" system. The front page is crowded and ugly. And I have no choice but to smile and endure the decisions of the ones who implemented these changes.