http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=58552


in reply to Please explain WHY you voted --

We've been bandying about the deficiencies in the Voting/Experience System for far longer than I've been here anyway, so we should probably figure out if it's time to demand some improvements from our fearless leader (actually, someone else at http://www.everydevel.com probably, but we don't have to worry about that). He'll need something to occupy his time come spring break next month I'm sure. ;)

Anyway, my current idea about the voting system is to toss an extra text box next to the radio boxes already on each post. In the text box you can enter a short comment about the post, generally why you voted it up or down. Generally it should be ignored, ++'s don't need explanation. The reason for putting it there is that 1) Monks are Lazy and 2) Monks are anti-social. No one really wants their first impression to someone else to involve the voter telling the poster how much they suck. That generally causes enmity or at least discomfort.

Anyways, there's two things that could happen to this anonymous message. 1) It can be stored with the node, with the noder (or perhaps everyone, after they've voted on the node (like seeing the reputation. Or perhaps as a priviledge after reaching a certain level) able to see the current commentary on his/her node. This allows for all the commentary without polluting actual node space. 2) Send it as anonymous messages to the noder, which is probably easier to implement than modifying the node structure.

-Lexicon