A respectful post gets a thumbs down

[two42lovers]

We posted recently in Are you a Swinger? It was respectful, open hearted, and didn't put ANYBODY down. Just gave our viewpoint. Someone gave our post the thumbs down "red mark" and wrote us a note saying, "I have to dissagree." Ouch.

So if we write something someone doesn't agree with, we get the thumbs down? Seems childish. Could see it if we said something nasty or mean, but we didn't. Whoever it was, they didn't say we were being nasty - just said they disagreed. But instead of posting their opinion openly, they gave us a red mark bad rating, anonymously?

What do others feel about this? Is this the way it should be?

[VegasLee]

It is the Internet. I would not let it bother you. It takes many more thumbs down to really hurt your rating, I know, I get my fair share and none of them have written anything, just thumbs down.

Seems that if they did not agree they would say what they have to say, no real reason for a thumbs down just because they don't agree but that how it is now days on the Internet. No guts by most people. They like to hide behind the keyboard.

Your rating is fine, don't be concerned and keep giving your opinions, that is what this is about.

[JustAskJulie]

That is definately not the purpose of the rating system, as I stated when I installed it and posted about it here: http://www.swingersboard.com/forums/...reen-dots.html.

This should be used to rate posts, if you see a post you think is a really great contribution to a thread, or a post that is exactly the opposite click the scale you see on the left side of the post under the posters username, from there you can give the post either a thumbsup or a thumbs down.

The system should not be used to just say you don't agree with a particular post. We often don't agree and as you said it should be stated. The post rating system affects a users overall rating and the whole point is to help users identify who are quality posters and who are not. It does take a lot to really affect one person's rating. One negative or one positive is not going to be enough to really do much. But as I said in the beginning I do keep a pretty close eye on this system and I have deleted negative ratings in the past for this very reason and will delete this one as well.

The one downside of setting it up so that users are notified of new reputation (ratings) is that you see it immideately whereas before you may have never noticed something like this. I look at every negative rating and if I feel like a user has a valid reason for leaving a negative rating on a post, it stays. If it's something like this where they simply don't agree with what you said, it does not stay. That's why we require comments on negative ratings.

[two42lovers]

Thank you, Julie! The two best things about SB are the cool people who hang out here, and you.

[sweet_tna]

Originally Posted by two42lovers

We posted recently in Are you a Swinger? It was respectful, open hearted, and didn't put ANYBODY down. Just gave our viewpoint. Someone gave our post the thumbs down "red mark" and wrote us a note saying, "I have to dissagree." Ouch.

So if we write something someone doesn't agree with, we get the thumbs down? Seems childish. Could see it if we said something nasty or mean, but we didn't. Whoever it was, they didn't say we were being nasty - just said they disagreed. But instead of posting their opinion openly, they gave us a red mark bad rating, anonymously?

What do others feel about this? Is this the way it should be?

As far as the post itself, I more or less agreed with you, so I certainly had no issues with it. But even if I HAD disagreed with you, I wouldn't have responded by giving you a negative reputation. The only reason I see for doing that is if someone IS disrespectful/rude.

I'm sorry someone either misunderstood the point of giving reputations or chose to express their disagreement in a childish way. I'm sure you'll earn plenty of good reputation marks to offset that one fairly quickly.

~Sweet =) (who refuses to let the turkeys get her down)

[JustAskJulie]

Originally Posted by sweet_tna

I'm sorry someone either misunderstood the point of giving reputations or chose to express their disagreement in a childish way. I'm sure you'll earn plenty of good reputation marks to offset that one fairly quickly.

Even if I hadn't removed it that one little bad mark would not have even come close to affecting the already excellent reputation that you guys have earned.

The easiest thing to do is when you see something like that just say "whatever" and move on. If it really bothers you you can always PM me, I won't tell you who gave you the rating but I will examine it and determine if I feel like they had a reason to do so, or mostly it comes down to does the comment they provided give enough reason to have given you the negative mark.

[havefuninsun]

Playing devil's advocate -- I wonder if the "thumbs down dude" was just confused on how to use the rating system.

Now he/she knows!!

[JustAskJulie]

Originally Posted by havefuninsun

Playing devil's advocate -- I wonder if the "thumbs down dude" was just confused on how to use the rating system.

Now he/she knows!!

Could be and yes, hopefully they are reading this.

[Chris&Amelia]

Not to throw a cup of vinegar into all of this, but I can't help but think that the entire Reputation System isn't really worth the program code it was written in.

I really couldn't care how many green dots somebody has under their avatar. And I've seen many worthwhile and longtime posters with only one green dot. I'm convinced that it has degenerated into more of a popularity contest then anything else.

[JustAskJulie]

Originally Posted by Chris&Amelia

Not to throw a cup of vinegar into all of this, but I can't help but think that the entire Reputation System isn't really worth the program code it was written in.

I really couldn't care how many green dots somebody has under their avatar. And I've seen many worthwhile and longtime posters with only one green dot. I'm convinced that it has degenerated into more of a popularity contest then anything else.

then you probably need to start giving more reputation to those who you think deserve it. There are many long time posters who haven't gotten beyond one simply because they haven't posted much or at least not much that really says much since the system was put in place. In the end it's not the quantity of someone's posts but the quality that is really important.

I see it as more of a "pat on the back" for those who deserve it on occasion than anything else, combined with a bit of a "slap on the hand" for those who deserve that.

[sweet_tna]

Originally Posted by Chris&Amelia

Not to throw a cup of vinegar into all of this, but I can't help but think that the entire Reputation System isn't really worth the program code it was written in.

I really couldn't care how many green dots somebody has under their avatar. And I've seen many worthwhile and longtime posters with only one green dot. I'm convinced that it has degenerated into more of a popularity contest then anything else.

I disagree. I think Julie has included enough checks and balances to help keep that from happening. And I'd like to think most of our board members are more mature than that.

=)

[Chris&Amelia]

Julie and I moved this discussion to PM, but we're cool.