4 ms·

it's a known bug. everyone hates it. suggest an appropriate solution. maybe the arrows should straddle the reply link

by zackattack 16y ago

chaosmachine 16y ago
Reddit has an appropriate solution: you can unclick the arrow.
- billswift 16y ago
  Not just Reddit; every site that I read that has voting, except HN, has unclick.
  - jrockway 16y ago
    Yeah, but is every site you read written in Lisp?
    - zaatar 16y ago
      Why is this relevant? Not every site I read is in English either, but that doesn't make the OP's point invalid.
      - jrockway 16y ago
        Yes, that's my point.
      - deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]
- kmfrk 16y ago
  This is a bad solution; a voting system on a discussion site should allow people to undo their vote, but not let people change opinions on a whim. People can stand by their point or concede that they were wrong somehow. If your opinion does a 180, it's probably for the better that your - new - opinion doesn't count.
  - xyzzyz 16y ago
    Wow, what's wrong with changing opinions?
    - itsnotvalid 16y ago
      Just thinking, there could be a counter on how many times someone "changed opinions". As a side though, if somebody keeps changing opinions on a given topic, it would be somewhat sensible to lower the effect of such votes.
      - JeremyBanks 16y ago
        I think it's unlikely that that would be necessarily. Only a small minority of votes would be reversed, and the even smaller portion of those that are reversed a second time wouldn't be worth worrying about.
    - perlgeek 16y ago
      Nothing. The ability to change opinions is an important difference between rational and overly stubborn people. Sometimes I can be convinced during a discussion. Then people are often very surprised that I change my opinion at all. Then I wonder why the bother to discuss, if they don't expect me to actually change my opinion.
    - flatline 16y ago
      So much of the media we consume is heavily editorialized to hit an emotional chord. This makes sense from the author's perspective - an argument with a strong pathos can help it get noticed. I will often react instinctively at first, then take some time and reconsider and form a different opinion. Sometimes I read an article on HN, then go to the comments where someone states a counterpoint I had not considered. Especially on a this forum, one should have the chance to change a vote.
    - mcantor 16y ago
      Well, if you change your opinion, that means you were WRONG! And being wrong is... well... WRONG! Don't you see?! You can't let people see you being wrong, man! They might think you're human!
- burgerbrain 16y ago
  Even slashdot will let you unmoderate by commenting in the same article that you moderated in. Works well.
nopinsight 16y ago
It's a good idea. But its side effect could be that people are more encouraged to write replies instead of just voting (resulting in too many me-too comments). We will never know without trying it out though. An alternative is to have the arrows straddle the top line of a comment instead. The down-vote button will be right beside the 'flag' link which may or may not have a desired side effect. Yet another idea with possibly least side effect is to have them straddle '[x] points'.
kgermino 16y ago
Yes. The question shouldn't be "have you ever?" but rather "How often do you?"
bouncingsoul 16y ago
It has to be more than just a solution: it has to be a solution that requires close to zero coding from time-constrained PG. I think adding a hover effect to the arrow would provide the most benefit per second coding. The following line of CSS can do it without requiring image editing: a:hover img {opacity: .6;} That gives a little feedback about what irrevocable action is about to take place – which is especially useful when mousing the area in between the arrows, where currently a single pixel of movement can invisibly turn an intended upvote into a downvote. Other solutions are better, but this is an easy 80% one.
- mckoss 16y ago
  Doesn't solve the iPad problem.
  - bouncingsoul 16y ago
    That is true. Here a similar solution for iOS: a[href*=dir\=up] {-webkit-tap-highlight-color: green;} a[href*=dir\=down] {-webkit-tap-highlight-color: red;} Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/Lswpg.png http://i.imgur.com/Lswpg.png
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
krschultz 16y ago
Well on my screen the arrows go from the top of the line showing points and user name, to halfway down the first line of comment text. Every comment has to have at least 1 line of text, why not make the arrows go from the top of the user line to the bottom of the first comment text line. That is about a 25% increase in size.
huhtenberg 16y ago
http://i55.tinypic.com/3177hqt.png http://i55.tinypic.com/3177hqt.png and have a per-account preference of whether to use this or current layout. (edit) Having actually thought about it for a minute, I think a simple "Undo last vote" in the title bar next to the account name would work just fine for reversing accidental votes. And, say, call it unvote for brevity. I really like how clicking on either arrow makes them disappear, this is very much in line with general minimalistic design of the site, so I would rather have it stay. http://i53.tinypic.com/24dljeq.png http://i53.tinypic.com/24dljeq.png

it's a known bug. everyone hates it. suggest an appropriate solution. maybe the arrows should straddle the reply link

chaosmachine 16y ago

Reddit has an appropriate solution: you can unclick the arrow.

billswift 16y ago
Not just Reddit; every site that I read that has voting, except HN, has unclick.
- jrockway 16y ago
  Yeah, but is every site you read written in Lisp?
  - zaatar 16y ago
    Why is this relevant? Not every site I read is in English either, but that doesn't make the OP's point invalid.
    - jrockway 16y ago
      Yes, that's my point.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
kmfrk 16y ago
This is a bad solution; a voting system on a discussion site should allow people to undo their vote, but not let people change opinions on a whim. People can stand by their point or concede that they were wrong somehow. If your opinion does a 180, it's probably for the better that your - new - opinion doesn't count.
- xyzzyz 16y ago
  Wow, what's wrong with changing opinions?
  - itsnotvalid 16y ago
    Just thinking, there could be a counter on how many times someone "changed opinions". As a side though, if somebody keeps changing opinions on a given topic, it would be somewhat sensible to lower the effect of such votes.
    - JeremyBanks 16y ago
      I think it's unlikely that that would be necessarily. Only a small minority of votes would be reversed, and the even smaller portion of those that are reversed a second time wouldn't be worth worrying about.
  - perlgeek 16y ago
    Nothing. The ability to change opinions is an important difference between rational and overly stubborn people. Sometimes I can be convinced during a discussion. Then people are often very surprised that I change my opinion at all. Then I wonder why the bother to discuss, if they don't expect me to actually change my opinion.
  - flatline 16y ago
    So much of the media we consume is heavily editorialized to hit an emotional chord. This makes sense from the author's perspective - an argument with a strong pathos can help it get noticed. I will often react instinctively at first, then take some time and reconsider and form a different opinion. Sometimes I read an article on HN, then go to the comments where someone states a counterpoint I had not considered. Especially on a this forum, one should have the chance to change a vote.
  - mcantor 16y ago
    Well, if you change your opinion, that means you were WRONG! And being wrong is... well... WRONG! Don't you see?! You can't let people see you being wrong, man! They might think you're human!
burgerbrain 16y ago
Even slashdot will let you unmoderate by commenting in the same article that you moderated in. Works well.

nopinsight 16y ago

It's a good idea. But its side effect could be that people are more encouraged to write replies instead of just voting (resulting in too many me-too comments). We will never know without trying it out though. An alternative is to have the arrows straddle the top line of a comment instead. The down-vote button will be right beside the 'flag' link which may or may not have a desired side effect. Yet another idea with possibly least side effect is to have them straddle '[x] points'.

kgermino 16y ago

Yes. The question shouldn't be "have you ever?" but rather "How often do you?"

bouncingsoul 16y ago

It has to be more than just a solution: it has to be a solution that requires close to zero coding from time-constrained PG. I think adding a hover effect to the arrow would provide the most benefit per second coding. The following line of CSS can do it without requiring image editing: a:hover img {opacity: .6;} That gives a little feedback about what irrevocable action is about to take place – which is especially useful when mousing the area in between the arrows, where currently a single pixel of movement can invisibly turn an intended upvote into a downvote. Other solutions are better, but this is an easy 80% one.

mckoss 16y ago
Doesn't solve the iPad problem.
- bouncingsoul 16y ago
  That is true. Here a similar solution for iOS: a[href*=dir\=up] {-webkit-tap-highlight-color: green;} a[href*=dir\=down] {-webkit-tap-highlight-color: red;} Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/Lswpg.png http://i.imgur.com/Lswpg.png
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]

krschultz 16y ago

Well on my screen the arrows go from the top of the line showing points and user name, to halfway down the first line of comment text. Every comment has to have at least 1 line of text, why not make the arrows go from the top of the user line to the bottom of the first comment text line. That is about a 25% increase in size.

huhtenberg 16y ago

http://i55.tinypic.com/3177hqt.png http://i55.tinypic.com/3177hqt.png and have a per-account preference of whether to use this or current layout. (edit) Having actually thought about it for a minute, I think a simple "Undo last vote" in the title bar next to the account name would work just fine for reversing accidental votes. And, say, call it unvote for brevity. I really like how clicking on either arrow makes them disappear, this is very much in line with general minimalistic design of the site, so I would rather have it stay. http://i53.tinypic.com/24dljeq.png http://i53.tinypic.com/24dljeq.png