Better forum

H. S. Teoh hsteoh at quickfur.ath.cx
Wed Dec 5 23:35:55 PST 2012


On Thu, Dec 06, 2012 at 05:11:59PM +1100, Walter Bright wrote:
> On 12/6/2012 4:47 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
> >What's the voting supposed to do? What are you voting on? Whatever it
> >is, it can't have any effect beyond those who use the web interface,
> >so unless it's specifically something that only affects you account,
> >I don't see how it could really work.
> 
> Also, voting systems are easily manipulated and abused. Fixing that
> requires, well, a larger investment in thinking about it, human
> moderation, etc.
> 
> Doesn't seem worth it, to me.
> 
> I wouldn't underestimate the ongoing effort forums like reddit and
> hackernews put into voting systems.

Voting is one of those things that everybody thinks is a good idea.
Until it's put into practice, then you realize it needs further
refinement. Which adds yet another layer of adjustments, and then you
realize that *that* also has its shortcomings, and needs yet another
layer of adjustments, ad nauseaum.

But nobody ever takes a step back and wonder, why do we even *need* a
voting system? What does it mean for a forum post to be rated X, for
some value of X? I mean, this isn't a popularity contest here. We're
trying to have a technical discussion. It should be the technical merit
of a post that establishes its value, not some arbitrary integer that
got randomly assigned to it. And frankly, when you're browsing the
archive for past discussions on a specific topic, do you even care how
many votes it had? What you care for is the meat: the technical points
raised in the post itself. The number attached to it holds no meaning
whatsoever.


T

-- 
The early bird gets the worm. Moral: ewww...


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