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Not 100% convinced about comment voting promoting group-think: I try (and sometimes fail) to vote on comment quality even if I disagree with the points made. Th

by astrec 18y ago

Not 100% convinced about comment voting promoting group-think: I try (and sometimes fail) to vote on comment quality even if I disagree with the points made. The discussion in this place is routinely exceptional in quality, and it seems to me the few occasions on which the case for group-think could be made could equally be explained by the fact that commenters sourced from such a narrow demographic are likely to do a fair bit of agreeing. That said, I'd be aghast if we ever descended to the level of reddit.

whacked_new 18y ago
This is itself the problem. There isn't any defined purpose for the up/down arrow, so people just interpret it with their own vague standards and act accordingly. Everybody will be able to make a case for their up/down votes and everybody will be right, but will also reveal very little, because you simply can't tell what the vote was on. If you gather a bunch of crazies and give them voting buttons, the result will still be crazy. If you take away voting buttons from sensible people, the discussion will still be sensible. The problem isn't that the voting promotes group-think. It's the entire premise of voting that is skewed. Once every while you can find a comment here, downvoted to oblivion, simply for stating an unpopular opinion. Before the issue of group-think comes into mind, you'd have to wonder what the down-voters are thinking, and further, how the way they think influences the overall discussion here.
- tdavis 18y ago
  ...find a comment here, downvoted to oblivion, simply for stating an unpopular opinion... I agree. It's happened to me a few times. Unfortunately, you can't force people into voting based on the "quality" of an opinion over their moral, ethical, or personal regard for that opinion. All you can really do is hope there are more free-thinkers than drones.
  - ErrantX 18y ago
    Agreed I'm new here and it has happened to me twice already. Ok so the first time was a bit blunt and when I qualified it with a reply it got upvoted again. But the second time I didn't bother (even though I basically made the same comment further up the page - on a slightly different slant/discussion) and it got upvoted. It always comes down to the users and their whims in the end :P This place is a lot better than most :D

by astrec 18y ago

whacked_new 18y ago

This is itself the problem. There isn't any defined purpose for the up/down arrow, so people just interpret it with their own vague standards and act accordingly. Everybody will be able to make a case for their up/down votes and everybody will be right, but will also reveal very little, because you simply can't tell what the vote was on. If you gather a bunch of crazies and give them voting buttons, the result will still be crazy. If you take away voting buttons from sensible people, the discussion will still be sensible. The problem isn't that the voting promotes group-think. It's the entire premise of voting that is skewed. Once every while you can find a comment here, downvoted to oblivion, simply for stating an unpopular opinion. Before the issue of group-think comes into mind, you'd have to wonder what the down-voters are thinking, and further, how the way they think influences the overall discussion here.

tdavis 18y ago
...find a comment here, downvoted to oblivion, simply for stating an unpopular opinion... I agree. It's happened to me a few times. Unfortunately, you can't force people into voting based on the "quality" of an opinion over their moral, ethical, or personal regard for that opinion. All you can really do is hope there are more free-thinkers than drones.
- ErrantX 18y ago
  Agreed I'm new here and it has happened to me twice already. Ok so the first time was a bit blunt and when I qualified it with a reply it got upvoted again. But the second time I didn't bother (even though I basically made the same comment further up the page - on a slightly different slant/discussion) and it got upvoted. It always comes down to the users and their whims in the end :P This place is a lot better than most :D