Are you just storing it as a quick way to get the score with tallying votes? A) I can normalize something scaled on 1 to 5 just as easily as -1 to 1. Is it th

Are you just storing it as a quick way to get the score with tallying votes? A) I can normalize something scaled on 1 to 5 just as easily as -1 to 1. Is it that much harder using 3 as your middle, as opposed to 0? As a bonus, you don't have to account for negative numbers when you display stuff. B) A non-vote could just as easily count as a 3. I'm not suggesting your solution wouldn't work, but I will say that I don't see the reasons listed as very compelling.