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I think you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater especially when it comes to forums. Reddit, HN and SO couldn't exist without their voting systems. SO up
by s1t5 6y ago
I think you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater especially when it comes to forums. Reddit, HN and SO couldn't exist without their voting systems. SO upvotes are an indicator of the quality of the question/response, they aren't there to hook anyone to the platform. And there's a level of personal responsibility on the user's side that you leave out when you simply say that any platform with a voting system is acting irresponsibly.
- flipflop222 6y agoI agree and disagree. I think the voting system as a tool to weigh the quality of the questions and responses is a good implementation. That does not (as far as I can tell) require publishing people's scores, ranks etc. I think that's where the toxicity happens. I faced the same issue for myself on HN...I started obsessing over my very underwhelming score. Here's how I dealt with it: 1. I intentionally forgot my old account password so I wouldn't be able to log into it (there was no way to delete the account on HN at the time...still??) 2. whenever I had the urge to respond (which is maybe 1/100 of what it was when I had an active account), I sign up with a throwaway and make sure I enter a password that I won't remember in 5 minutes. 3. I log out and go back to my life.
- ryanwaggoner 6y agoI really like this idea.
- yesenadam 6y agoWhat about if HN didn't show your points next to your name when you're logged in? It really doesn't matter how many fake internet points you have except to get you hooked into the gamification. I'd much rather not see that number. Any attention I pay to that number (which is way more than I'd wish) is a waste of time, at best. Apart from that, you have to go out of your way to see points values, except on your old comments.