http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=84184


in reply to On Voting

As boo mentioned yesterday in the CB (albeit in a pseudo-serious way), why not just get rid of downvotes?

Seems to me, the main point they serve here is for someone to say "Hey man, I don't like that node, it's too insert reason here".

Can't this be done via msg or the CB? With anonymous voting, no-one is going to know who didn't agree with their node, and more importantly why, because only a select few msg someone when they cast a --.
If we do away with the downvote, I believe people will become much more comfortable with letting others know that they didn't like a recent node. Rather than just thinking "This sucks, I'm gonna downvote and move on".
The downvote really only breeds (in a very generalised way) discontent. Someone gets a downvote, they think - "Ok, was that 'cause my node was crap, or because Monk X doesn't like me?" And so on...

I am not trying to save the world with this node, but I would be interesting to know how other people feel about losing the -- radio button. Perhaps it could be replaced with a "Send Warning Button" or something,
in which the noder is msg'ed with - "Warning : Someone didn't like linked node - Perhaps you should run it by a Saint."

This way, we get none of the bullshit associated with downvoting, and the monks whose nodes really do stink will be able to seek guidance from a Saint (or lower, not like they have a clue anyway :) ). IMO, this eliminates bad feelings and promotes learning, happiness, and ultimately enlightenment.

Azatoth a.k.a Captain Whiplash

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