Downvoting

By Greg84 | Dec 07, 2018, 03:04 PM
Seeing there was some debate/feedback recently on the non-travel content, I wondered what view other members had on the ability to down vote. I personally dislike it & find myself up voting simply when I see negatives just to get rid of them. I'm not sure it adds a tremendous amount of value - everyone is entitled to their opinion (with some limitations) so not sure why people need to be negative towards them.  
Poll: Should AUSBT remove Down Votes?
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By MRYJDrake | Dec 07, 2018, 03:39 PM
I'm just going to quote you here, and see if you can find the answer within your own statement:

everyone is entitled to their opinion (with some limitations) so not sure why people need to be negative towards them.



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By GBRGB | Dec 07, 2018, 03:52 PM
I agree, the down vote has been booted from most sites these days, it has no value and is negative by its dismissal of someone’s genuine opinion. It also promotes a mob mentality on certain topics, I have noticed on here that would be any negative opinion towards Qantas, I like QF and dont have many issues but respect when someone does, but on here it is set upon with some vigour.
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By Greg84 | Dec 07, 2018, 03:56 PM
The idea for me is debate, I’d prefer to see the debate in writing, not just a - on the counter. Anyway was just interested to see the groups view.
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By John Phelan | Dec 07, 2018, 05:04 PM
I agree, the down vote has been booted from most sites these days, it has no value and is negative by its dismissal of someone’s genuine opinion. It also promotes a mob mentality on certain topics, I have noticed on here that would be any negative opinion towards Qantas, I like QF and dont have many issues but respect when someone does, but on here it is set upon with some vigour.

No, it's not a dismissal of their opinion; it's showing disagreement with their opinion.
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By stompsy | Dec 07, 2018, 05:15 PM
I agree, the down vote has been booted from most sites these days, it has no value and is negative by its dismissal of someone’s genuine opinion. It also promotes a mob mentality on certain topics, I have noticed on here that would be any negative opinion towards Qantas, I like QF and dont have many issues but respect when someone does, but on here it is set upon with some vigour.

No, it's not a dismissal of their opinion; it's showing disagreement with their opinion.

Not sure - I think it's actually Passive Aggressive. If there's genuine disagreement, then I agree - let's have the debate so that people understand where you're coming from.

As a recipient of 'down votes', I pissed me off because I lacked the context - were people just being asses, were they genuinely disagreeing with my opinion, was it mob mentality.

I agree - ditch it.
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By Rav | Dec 07, 2018, 05:18 PM
I agree, the down vote has been booted from most sites these days, it has no value and is negative by its dismissal of someone’s genuine opinion. It also promotes a mob mentality on certain topics, I have noticed on here that would be any negative opinion towards Qantas, I like QF and dont have many issues but respect when someone does, but on here it is set upon with some vigour.

No, it's not a dismissal of their opinion; it's showing disagreement with their opinion.
That is it, I do not dismiss anyone's word but there are some that I disagree with emphatically and it allows me to do this when I might write a rather sulphurous comment.

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By David | Dec 07, 2018, 05:43 PM
It's interesting to see the various ways which websites implement comment voting. Some community sites have standard up/down, some add a 'thanks' button (we have both those) – some have removed the downvote and simply have like / agree / informative – Fairfax has a single handshake-icon for 'respect' which is similar to like/agree in intent – the NYT has no comment-voting at all. We're working on a revamp of the site and this is one area we'll be looking into, to see if the like/dislike/thanks combo is the best and if the labelling could be better and if the differentiation between 'like' and 'thanks' is apparent and useful.

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By Greg84 | Dec 07, 2018, 05:44 PM
I'm just going to quote you here, and see if you can find the answer within your own statement:

everyone is entitled to their opinion (with some limitations) so not sure why people need to be negative towards them.




It doesn't say don't share your opinion - more than happy to see different opinions, but I don't see anything constructive in down votes. If someone says Air NZ is a great airline & it gets down voted how do I know why they disagree...one bad experience, work for VA (ha), terrible in business etc. It doesn't provide much insight to help me make a decision whether or not to fly them. The people have spoken (well some of them) & it appears I am in the minority in any case.
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By GBRGB | Dec 07, 2018, 05:49 PM
Then add to the debate, rather than just hitting the down button, perhaps AUSBT could adjust their site so that if you hit the down button you also have to make comment as to why. There is a reason why a down vote has gone from most web sites, blogs etc, is that it doesn’t add anything, it only detracts. One person makes a comment and gets 30 down votes but only 5 comments, where is the balance?
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By stompsy | Dec 07, 2018, 06:02 PM
I like the suggestion for a comment when downvote used
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By whoppersandwich | Dec 07, 2018, 06:08 PM
Reddit seems to handle their upvote/downvote system reasonably well, and given that we don’t have anyone on this website (not that I’ve seen anyway) whose posts are purely motivated by a desire to get lots of upvotes/downvotes - I think we’re better positioned to use this system.
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By John Phelan | Dec 07, 2018, 07:51 PM
I'm just going to quote you here, and see if you can find the answer within your own statement:

everyone is entitled to their opinion (with some limitations) so not sure why people need to be negative towards them.




It doesn't say don't share your opinion - more than happy to see different opinions, but I don't see anything constructive in down votes. If someone says Air NZ is a great airline & it gets down voted how do I know why they disagree...one bad experience, work for VA (ha), terrible in business etc. It doesn't provide much insight to help me make a decision whether or not to fly them. The people have spoken (well some of them) & it appears I am in the minority in any case.

By the same logic, though, how is there anything constructive in up votes? If you say Air NZ is a great airline and it gets up voted - how do you know why they agree? That also doesn't provide much insight to help you make a decision.

I think there needs to be a consistent approach - you either have both up and down buttons, or have neither. The SMH approach of only having an up ("respect") button reeks of the "we mustn't ever disagree with anyone because it might offend them" mentality that has removed the resilience from many of our young people.

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By Greg84 | Dec 07, 2018, 08:06 PM
I'm just going to quote you here, and see if you can find the answer within your own statement:

everyone is entitled to their opinion (with some limitations) so not sure why people need to be negative towards them.




It doesn't say don't share your opinion - more than happy to see different opinions, but I don't see anything constructive in down votes. If someone says Air NZ is a great airline & it gets down voted how do I know why they disagree...one bad experience, work for VA (ha), terrible in business etc. It doesn't provide much insight to help me make a decision whether or not to fly them. The people have spoken (well some of them) & it appears I am in the minority in any case.

By the same logic, though, how is there anything constructive in up votes? If you say Air NZ is a great airline and it gets up voted - how do you know why they agree? That also doesn't provide much insight to help you make a decision.

I think there needs to be a consistent approach - you either have both up and down buttons, or have neither. The SMH approach of only having an up ("respect") button reeks of the "we mustn't ever disagree with anyone because it might offend them" mentality that has removed the resilience from many of our young people.


A fair point John
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By dimi | Dec 07, 2018, 09:15 PM
Then add to the debate, rather than just hitting the down button, perhaps AUSBT could adjust their site so that if you hit the down button you also have to make comment as to why. There is a reason why a down vote has gone from most web sites, blogs etc, is that it doesn’t add anything, it only detracts. One person makes a comment and gets 30 down votes but only 5 comments, where is the balance?

I disagreed with, and downvoted your comment, GBRGB.

Here is why:
I have not seen a comment on this website that was massively downvoted without anyone bothering to explain the reason.
When a comment gets 30 negative votes, you are very likely to find an ample explanation among the 5 comments that followed it.

PS: Please feel free to disagree and downvote - I can take it without spending sleepless nights over it.
Last edited by dimi at Dec 07, 2018, 09.22 PM.
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By Steve987 | Dec 07, 2018, 09:20 PM
Get rid of voting altogether. It serves no value.
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