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Forum Migration: Upvotes and Retroactive (lack of) Anonymity
- Thread starter arn
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Arn, I have no problem with the new software which members can see my up votes. That being said, I'm still anonymous as far as my real life, at least I think I am....lol!
Based on all the discussion that has taken place over the years about the upvotes/downvotes, and the abuses evident in the way they were used, I would think that throwing all of those votes out and starting with a clear understanding of the purpose of the "like" system would yield more meaningful results. I believe a lot of the upvotes cast in many threads were to counteract downvotes, and vice versa. Removing downvotes without removing upvotes would result in a skewed perception about the value of some posts.
Ok, given the feedback, I'm leaning towards not transferring any votes to new system.
We will somehow keep the raw anonymous scores on existing stories to keep those comment rankings for the news pages.
further discussion welcome
We will somehow keep the raw anonymous scores on existing stories to keep those comment rankings for the news pages.
further discussion welcome
That makes good sense to me, Arn, to simply start fresh with the new forum software and the new "Likes" system accordingly..... I think in the long run it will save a lot of angst and a lot of hassle. This is where I would put my vote! 
I would prefer this option.
In some threads you are going to be creating labels on the person up voting a post, which will spark negative posts because people will have to defend their visible up vote.
Some of the threads spark unhealthy debate over passionate topics. You up vote a post and those who disagree will be labeling you. PRSI is one thread where I think it could get ugly very fast.
I would opt-in to importing
Short term: certainly during a period of adjustment (whilst contributors familiarise themselves with the new environment) it'll be nice to not offer too many options.
Medium/long term: the per-user option to import historical
Generally: I guess that there'll be a suitable banner across vBulletin forum pages for a few days before the migration? If so, that could forewarn people that "neither up-votes, nor historical down-votes, will be migrated at this time" (with reference to a prepared FAQ page/topic) or words to that effect.
I think there's a level of logic with not importing the up votes. New software with new features/abilities, including the upvote system. Lets start fresh, people may (or may not) vote differently now that its not anonymous. Lets not strip them of that anonymity when the benefit is limited at best.
As GGJ mentioned as well, since we're only importing the upvotes, there were certainly a number of occasions where the ups were done just to offset the down.
Starting fresh without votes means we're all at square one.
As GGJ mentioned as well, since we're only importing the upvotes, there were certainly a number of occasions where the ups were done just to offset the down.
Starting fresh without votes means we're all at square one.
Yeah, what you and GGJ say makes a lot of sense and it would seem to be better to start off fresh on the vote/like thing.
Scratch that. I want to see who's been up-voting their own posts!
Edit: Just checking to see if editing my post resets my -1 vote count.
Edit2: Bummer. It doesn't!
Edit3: So, if I say all the mods and administrators are wonderful people and truly wise individuals... will that reset my -1 vote count? Waiting....
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Scratch that. I want to see who's been up-voting their own posts!
With a recent change to the current vote system, users can no longer up vote their own posts. When it was first introduced, they could.
Well, well. Just checked and confirmed. Interesting.
Darn. I'm going to have to re-think my theories about all those sad posts in PRSI with just one upvote!!
I'd go even further and ditch the entire voting system. The system changes but not the people and that's the problem. I'd rather have a system where you can mark an answer (post) as being the solution or a contribution to the solution. That way the system is more geared towards finding solutions to problems which is more valuable (it is easier to find the solution to a certain problem, especially in rather huge threads). It also prevents a lot of discussions around votes people are getting.
Agreed. If it is possible to remove the feature entirely from PRSI threads while leaving it intact for the rest, it would be a good idea IMHO. The only thing a public "like" system would do in PRSI is make the threads devolve faster.
"I see 556fmjoe liked this post but is too cowardly to come in here and defend it. What a ******"
Wouldn't everybody do this?
Why would you post if you don't like your own post?
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Politics, Religion and Social Issues aka "The Forbidden Forum".Excellent
Also what's this prsi thread that many keep referencing, I'm intrigued now
I know it's tempting to post in there, but it's also a certain way to get warnings, time-outs and eventually banned.
That would be one example of such a system yes. There are other forums such as the one from VMware where this system is applied.
There are many forums that use the like functionality but on most of them it doesn't work at all due to the lack of strictness. The FreeBSD forums are a good example of that system accompanied by very strict rules. On that forum this system works. The main moral of this all: MacRumors needs to find a system that works for MacRumors which requires a bit more analysing of the audience as well as knowing what they want to accomplish with such a system. The latter seems to be lacking a bit (what does MacRumors want to accomplish with the system?).
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