Post downvoting is coming back

[johnb]

Each of you can have an ignore user list .. its in the profile section .. look for buddies / blocked users ..  unfortunately it doesnt work for admins

You can also click ignore topic on a thread ..

if I used the ignore button, I could miss out on some great modeling. If I don't use it, I could have a happier time on this forum. If I report a post, I am a snitch and snitches get stitches.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

if I used the ignore button, I could miss out on some great modeling. If I don't use it, I could have a happier time on this forum. If I report a post, I am a snitch and snitches get stitches.

I was going to make a stop snitchin reference or joke here but... realized the whole world might not get the reference.

On a serious note though, we can't all be here all the time and can't see every thread. So if someone does something that really does cross the line, or comes close, please don't be afraid to hit that button.

[GaryHinshaw]

One thing I'd like to ask everyone to do: think critically before you hit that "post" button. Is your post contributing to the conversation? Is it helpful?

To paraphrase the old carpenter's adage: Think twice, post once.

if I used the ignore button, I could miss out on some great modeling. If I don't use it, I could have a happier time on this forum. If I report a post, I am a snitch and snitches get stitches.

How about we make you a mod instead. 

[johnb]

How about we make you a mod instead. 

oh, you wouldn't like that....

[peteski]

oh, you wouldn't like that....

Yeah, that would be like making me a moderator - some members would be very unhappy. But wait, I am a moderator here!  Um, but just the FAQ section.    If any of youz tries anything cute in the FAQ section, beware! 

[ednadolski]

I am a moderator here!  Um, but just the FAQ section. 

[wazzou]

oh, you wouldn't like that....

There would be something ironic about a moderator's avatar reading "******** merit badge".

[tom mann]

This is great Ed.  Makes me wish I would have put Post Upvoting in the admin board.

[johnb]

There would be something ironic about a moderator's avatar reading "***** merit badge".

that deserves an upvote

[Rivet Miscounter]

I am going to respectively express my opinion that I think this is a bad idea.   I left the forum in part because of this feature the last time it was in play. (and thus my join date and post count don't accurately reflect my history on this forum.)   I appreciate the work the mods put in here, and I'll follow whatever rules are in place.  But, that doesn't mean I think it is OK and I feel like it is reasonable to express that.    Carry on.   

[Maletrain]

Wow, I got 3 down votes on a post that simply said that the "signal to noise ratio" on TRW does not seem to me to be as bad as some people are posting!  And, that was even with the poster who exaggerated the ratio, in the post I quoted, replying to agree with me that he was exaggerating.

Quoting from Tom's opening post in this tread: "FYI - I received a number of complaints from valued members about an increase in snarky, jerky posts.  To fix this issue, I would like to reset the respect points and turn post downvoting back on. In doing so, I hope to shine a light on posts that the membership as a whole doesn't find welcome here."

So, it seems that some people didn't find my post "welcome".  But was that because my post was actually "snarky" or "jerky", or just because some people don't agree with me?  Or, do they want to suppress opinions they don't share?  I can't really tell, because a down vote is anonymous and inscrutable.

If downvoting is to be a "positive" rather than a negative change to TRW, then people must have some sort of agreed standard for deciding what to down vote.  Otherwise, it will just become another way for people to fight each other, increasing the negativity.  And automating some sort of censure for posters based on a down-vote count, as some posters suggested in this thread, would be opening the door for people to abuse the process to "get rid of" somebody they are fighting with.  In some other Internet forums, trolls open multiple accounts and use them to gang-up on members they are fighting.  I have not seen any indication of that here, but some of the policy suggestions for automation would certainly encourage that to happen.

So, I am not seeing any positive trend from resurrecting downvoting, and I think it is an idea that is backfiring.  What I intended to be a positive post was turned into a negative experience by anonymous down-voting.  If upbeat posts are frowned upon and suppressed, this forum will become an echo chamber of people who want to post about their dissatisfactions, which just drives the negativity to ever higher levels. 

Unlike some of the negative posters who post that they are "going away mad" (but sometimes don't go away at all), I intend to stick around and learn from the talented posters here, who really are mostly positive and constructive.  But, I am going to stop posting anything that disagrees with the negative people, because disagreeing with negativity doesn't seem "welcome" here.  I can just ignore them, without even using an "ignore button."

[Rivet Miscounter]

Wow, I got 3 down votes on a post that simply said that the "signal to noise ratio" on TRW does not seem to me to be as bad as some people are posting!  And, that was even with the poster who exaggerated the ratio, in the post I quoted, replying to agree with me that he was exaggerating.

Quoting from Tom's opening post in this tread: "FYI - I received a number of complaints from valued members about an increase in snarky, jerky posts.  To fix this issue, I would like to reset the respect points and turn post downvoting back on. In doing so, I hope to shine a light on posts that the membership as a whole doesn't find welcome here."

Full disclosure... I was the "exaggerator" and no, I did not downvote you.

Yet, I think your post is illustrative of some of the frustration on this forum.   My post was *clearly* an overstatement to drive home a point.   (and honestly there was a not-so-very-hidden significance to that number that I'm not sure anyone has "caught" yet, but I digress)    Do you really think it necessary to point out something like that?  I mean, most reasonable people know it was done as a device....do you really think you are ACTUALLY proving me wrong here?   I mean, I don't know one single person would read that and think I was actually trying to pass that off as an actual statistic.    The overzealous fact-check* grammar nazi crap--on a hobby forum where communication is more relaxed and a misspelling here or there isn't going to impact a company's reputation or otherwise cloud the message--needs to be curtailed.   So, if you don't think you're part of the problem, I don't know what to tell ya.

*If you're fact checking a technical detail about model railroading, check away.  Otherwise, just move along.  We're not your mom, we don't care how smart you are.  And yes, I think there are a lot of smart people here.   Not all of them are great socially.

[Maletrain]

Full disclosure... I was the "exaggerator" and no, I did not downvote you.

Yet, I think your post is illustrative of some of the frustration on this forum.   My post was *clearly* an overstatement to drive home a point.   (and honestly there was a not-so-very-hidden significance to that number that I'm not sure anyone has "caught" yet, but I digress)    Do you really think it necessary to point out something like that?  I mean, most reasonable people know it was done as a device....do you really think you are ACTUALLY proving me wrong here?   I mean, I don't know one single person would read that and think I was actually trying to pass that off as an actual statistic.    The overzealous fact-check* grammar nazi crap--on a hobby forum where communication is more relaxed and a misspelling here or there isn't going to impact a company's reputation or otherwise cloud the message--needs to be curtailed.   So, if you don't think you're part of the problem, I don't know what to tell ya.

*If you're fact checking a technical detail about model railroading, check away.  Otherwise, just move along.  We're not your mom, we don't care how smart you are.  And yes, I think there are a lot of smart people here.   Not all of them are great socially.

OK, I see part of the problem.  I did use your particular post as a convenient example of what I consider a wide spread exaggeration of the "negativity issue" and used it to illustrate my point.  But, I certainly was not trying to numerically "prove you wrong" with what I posted, and, in your response on the other thread, you did not seem to take it that way.  But, what you just posted above shows me that you still felt somehow that I was nit-picking you like a "grammar nazi". 

What this illustrates to me, at least, is the tendency for people to be over sensitive to disagreement and to grab an excuse to vilify someone who disagrees with them, taking the discussion into personal argument. 

So, as I said in my post, above, I am going to stop trying to post counter opinions that don't agree with the people who are intent on posting negatives about this forum.

But, before I quit this thread, I will apologize for using your post as an example.  It was never my intent to try to embarrass you or to try to make myself appear to be "smarter" than you.  I am sorry you took it that way.

[tom mann]

So ideally at this point, if you love and care about me, everyone will "get" the point and nicely move along!

[peteski]

So ideally at this point, if you love and care about me, everyone will "get" the point and nicely move along!

Ah yes, a perfect start to another round of the enabled down-voting debacle.  Here we go again.  Let the "fun" begin.  Last time down-voting (well the entire respect thing actually) was enabled I was the one complaining loudly about the unfairness of those trigger-happy opinionated down-voters. Good to see others having the same "problem".  Carry on all, and impulsively down-vote at your leasure!  Whateveh.