larrymurk
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1917
Registered: 12-09-2004
IP: Logged

I have a possible solution to the "down-modding controversy".

Don't allow any down-modding at all. Just up-modding.

Is this crazy or brilliant?

Right now modding is entirely subjective. Being modded up or down just means that someone decided to do that and they might or just as easily might not say why.

If someone is unhappy with a post, but they can't down-mod are they left w/o recourse? No, they can reply and state why they disliked the post. And what if the post is truly offensive- well the mod system doesn't really handle that now anyways. Moderators have to warn and ban serious problem makers if necessary in any case.

So now people won't have to deal with that awful feeling of getting down-modded. Also instead of people just hiding behind anonymous down-modding they'll have to actually make a reply post stating their dislike of another's post. At least this way the poster knows who is upset and why.

Is there really any need to allow down-modding at all when people always have the option of posting why they disliked something?

(I must credit my 10-yr old daughter with with this idea.)

TripleM
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1379
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

Why would you need to allow upmodding then, when posting about how awesome the post was works just as well?

What we have now works just fine. Its the reaction to it that needs to be fixed.

NiroZ
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1302
Registered: 02-12-2006
IP: Logged

larrymurk wrote:
Is this crazy or brilliant?

crazy

Right now modding is entirely subjective. Being modded up or down just means that someone decided to do that and they might or just as easily might not say why.

There are plenty of examples of why the down-modding is anonymous.

If someone is unhappy with a post, but they can't down-mod are they left w/o recourse? No, they can reply and state why they disliked the post. And what if the post is truly offensive- well the mod system doesn't really handle that now anyways. Moderators have to warn and ban serious problem makers if necessary in any case.

In many ways, downmod's are used against minor infringements as the punishment.

So now people won't have to deal with that awful feeling of getting down-modded. Also instead of people just hiding behind anonymous down-modding they'll have to actually make a reply post stating their dislike of another's post. At least this way the poster knows who is upset and why.

And instead, they can post whatever they feel like, in the hope that someone likes their post and mod's it up. Of course, because there isn't any way to mod people down, they can troll as much as they like, and have people feed them by posting replys.

Is there really any need to allow down-modding at all when people always have the option of posting why they disliked something?

Yes, the downmodder might be afraid of persecution (there are plenty of examples of people getting quite upset and nasty over people downmodding them). He might think he holds an unpopular viewpoint. And some people don't care about what other people think, so posting saying so isn't going to fix anything.

Pinnacle
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1137
Registered: 06-10-2004
IP: Logged

Why not simply increase the cost of downmodding?

____________________________
Once (adv.): Enough.
Twice (adv.): Once too often.
~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3689
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

NiroZ wrote:
Of course, because there isn't any way to mod people down, they can troll as much as they like, and have people feed them by posting replys.

Trolls will troll around whether there's a way to mod people down or not. Obviously, this does not mean you should encourage them to do so, but I'm saying that this particular concern is irrelevant.

That being said, I do actually like the idea. The only problem I can see is - what will happen to the posts that have already been modded down. Will they stay at -1 or lower, thus prompting questions from newcomers about how to rank posts at -1, or will Schik or someone else write a script to go set all the negative-ranked posts back to 0 again?

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

Ravon
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 220
Registered: 02-19-2004
IP: Logged

The way I see it, the problem isn't the downmodding, but rather the reaction to it. We're a generally friendly community, because of this, more posts get modded up than down. For some reason, everyone takes it with surprise when they get modded down, they say, "Why can't I know who did this?"

But, seriously everyone, you don't cry out when someone mods you up. You probably couldn't care less who the modder was.

Of course, as soon as I post this, someone else is going to respond with, "It's not the downmodding I dislike, its the randomness." Get over it. People get upmodded arbitrarily all the time.

You can't have upmodding without downmodding, and they should both be taken lightly.

---

[Last edited by Ravon at 05-13-2007 07:49 AM : I think I tried to write two sentences at once...]

Neather2
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 406
Registered: 07-18-2006
IP: Logged

Err...Larry, for me isn't a good idea.
Mod down in that month carry some problems.
One people got a mod down when do bad things; without the mod-down, the people can then do bad things. I don't say they can, why moderators can stop them, but they can't remove them from the forum for SMALL BAD things.
Then, We must alone moderate the Mod.


-Neather2

____________________________
Nothing to say. I just play the game. And you, sir, should play it too.

Conspiracy, my new hold, has just been released.

Rheb
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1211
Registered: 08-04-2006
IP: Logged

I love this idea, and with all of the weird down-mods of posts with blowup-smilies I was actually about to propose it myself.
I like the way I can easily show someone I liked something he/she wrote by modding his/her post up. But I don't really like the down-mod system, I think most people cares if they've been down-modded and of course most people wants to know why someone didn't like something they wrote. And that just starts long discussions where everybody just gets angry in the end. As Erik H wrote:

BUBBA1: Why did you mod me down?
BUBBA2: Because you're pretentious.
BUBBA1: I think you modded me down because I modded you down on Wednesday.
BUBBA2: No, no, I deserved that. You're just being pretentious.
BUBBA1: Fine. Next time you post something, I'm modding you down.
BUBBA2: I'm gonna tell the moderators. You're so busted.

If you don’t like something someone wrote you can just tell him/her in a quote/PM that you really disagree with what he/she wrote, or that you really hates the smiley he/she used. If you don’t have the guts to criticize someone open, why should you be allowed to do so hiding behind the mod-down system, in most cases that won’t make anything better.

____________________________
Voligner is my very own DROD-like game. Please check it out!

Blondbeard
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1486
Registered: 03-31-2005
IP: Logged

I compleatly agree with Rheb. And for me the main point about the rank point system is to be able to give a post a +1 when I really like the post. Of course it also makes me feel good to know that someone has considered one of my posts helpful, and given me a +1.

What about this?

Everybody has an infinit number of modpoints, but you can only mod each post one time. (And any single post can only be modded a certain number of times, like ten or something).

You can only give positive points.

The rank points you have isn't something that is written below your name, but it might be written in your profile.

MeckMeck GRE
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 594
Registered: 01-03-2005
IP: Logged

No. I prefer the system we have right now. It has worked for over 3 years now and I don't think we should give it up because some clown is randomly modding posts down. It would be a overreaction to let Schick code a new system just because few people lost few rank points. Furthermore I don't see a point in abolishing negative mods. Negative mods are the best way to deal with slightly bad posts. Thanks to them, the forum moderates itself. Infinite mod points for everyone are another bad idea. It would spoil the whole system and would bring us a flood of mod-ups. So I would suggest to calm down and let things be as they are.

---

[Last edited by MeckMeck GRE at 05-13-2007 12:09 PM]

Briareos
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3516
Registered: 08-07-2005
IP: Logged

Well, as one of those who started this whole current brouhaha over modding I guess I should say something as well.

I'm totally not against the mod system itself or modding down a post, in fact I really like it the way it is.

It's just that I found posts of mine modded down for no apparent reason (I have no problem with Maurog's anti-blowup-smiley crusade, as that's a more or less known reason), as it wouldn't ever dawn on me to mod someone down for the formatting of his or her post, as opposed to the content.

It took me quite some time to figure out that 3 posts of mine had been modded down in a batch simply because I had 3 quotes nested inside another, and not because what I said was rude or stupid or anything.

That's what I was complaining about - that modding should happen with regards to the content of a post, not it's form (probably unless it breaks the forum's display or causes some other major problem for all); judging something solely on it's form instead of it's content is so 12-years-or-so-ago, when I finally graduated from school...

And yeah, I don't think the modding system needs to be fixed in any way, shape or form.

np: To Rococo Rot - Jacky's Dream (Taken From Vinyl)

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

---

[Last edited by Briareos at 05-13-2007 12:24 PM]

Blondbeard
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1486
Registered: 03-31-2005
IP: Logged

MeckMeck GRE wrote:
Infinite mod points for everyone are another bad idea. It would spoil the whole system and would bring us a flood of mod-ups.

Provided the entire forum i filled with childish and stupid individuals, yes. Otherwise no. If I had infinite mod points I still wouldn't mod up very many posts. Just the ones I felt deserved it. What I said has nothing to do with some clown modding people down. But the issue isn't very important. I think the system could get better, but no big deal. I just think Larry has a smart daughter

Doom
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3339
Registered: 07-05-2004
IP: Logged

I agree completely with MeckMeck GRE.

It's not the modding that's getting out of hand. It's the complaints.

Blondbeard wrote:
If I had infinite mod points I still wouldn't mod up very many posts. Just the ones I felt deserved it.

Yeah, you wouldn't. System abuse potential would still be far easier than it's now. Problems created > Problems solved

I'm not getting any more involved in the topic in question, because it's had well enough attention already.

Blondbeard
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1486
Registered: 03-31-2005
IP: Logged

I just don't see the point of saying "I like you post!" about a post you don't like. Well... I'll be quite now. It feels as if I'm only managing to irritate poeple, although I am trying to do the opposite. Maybe I'm slightly incompatible with this forum

Yellow_Mage
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 267
Registered: 05-19-2004
IP: Logged

The only problem I see if people overrating. I usually avoid conflict but this is getting ridiculous.

larrymurk wrote:
Don't allow any down-modding at all. Just up-modding.

Being able to downmod people is the reason why this alternative of the reputation system works better than any other forums; it makes people think about what they have to say, develops quality posts, makes members become better posters. I know from other forums the rep system was scrapped because of rep hoarding, spam topics to get rep, etc. I could only view such a change as a temporary solution which isn't really productive.

I suppose you thought of it with good intentions, I just don't want people to be overly sensitive about it.

Blondbeard wrote:
I just don't see the point of saying "I like you post!" about a post you don't like. Well... I'll be quite now. It feels as if I'm only managing to irritate poeple, although I am trying to do the opposite. Maybe I'm slightly incompatible with this forum

You shouldn't worry about that. The repercussions of miscommunicating in real life is far worse than on a forum.

____________________________
"Sit and daydream, and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

---

[Last edited by Yellow_Mage at 05-13-2007 07:27 PM]

Zmann
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 241
Registered: 04-21-2003
IP: Logged

Aw, I was kind of half-hoping Larry's post would be down modded, just for the irony of it.

Neather2
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 406
Registered: 07-18-2006
IP: Logged

Err...I guess it's good open a poll, of the solution isn't found.

____________________________
Nothing to say. I just play the game. And you, sir, should play it too.

Conspiracy, my new hold, has just been released.

Insane
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 154
Registered: 08-06-2005
IP: Logged

Here's my proposal:

In your profile settings, you can select which smilies to view/not view, and other things such as how many nested tags to view at most.

-Insane

---

[Last edited by Insane at 05-14-2007 08:35 PM]

Dex Stewart
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 355
Registered: 01-19-2007
IP: Logged

I'm sorry if this sounds offending...

...but you do realize that's fracking ridiculous, don't you?

(At least I hope so)

zex20913
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1723
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Whenever he posts something like that, I attribute it to his name.

Also when anybody else posts something like that.

____________________________