Ok, so, long story short I posted this idea almost a year ago as an idea for a different system of voting than the one we're using now. Fast forward to now and I still think it's a valid and strong system to rally behind. So for those of you who have not seen this idea here is what I mean....

Right now the biggest issue (imho) with the current voting system is the fact that a binary vote, a simple up/down vote, is not helpful for a forum that is riddled with conflicting opinions and views. It works on Reddit because Reddit is a medium to gauge sweeping community views, whereas here on the Boards it's becoming more and more apparent that we have more individuals and minority opinions than we do consensus. Which, imho, is a good thing and should be embraced.

#In short, what does a vote mean? Am I saying yes when I upvote? Am I saying I agree? Am I saying I want more people to see this? How often does this question have a clear answer on the Boards?

Now, here's my idea:

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/vY2ZibUE-do-not-touch-morgs-binding

Here's the original post. This is a great, light-hearted example of what we're dealing with here. If you notice, this post is very popular but you have to ask exactly why it is. Is it because people agree with it's main subject of Morgana's Q snare being too long, or is it because it's generally entertaining to read? I actually mention this in that very post and I think it's safe to assume that this post is drawing it's popularity off of BOTH areas. Now, is that vote score this post has truly accurate then? Should this post, which barely touches on a subject people obviously have opinions about but is also just entertaining be put above constructive posts that could be on this very same thing?

http://i.imgur.com/TeXDYDA.png?1

Here's my idea: add tags and vote on THEM and not the POST ITSELF. As seen above you can take that very same post and divide it into 3 different tags. The community can vote on these tags to properly divide the reasoning of why the post is popular. In other words, if you think this post is funny you can upvote "Humor", whereas if you think it's a valid argument you can upvote "Morgana" or "Rito Plz". Or if you think it's both entertaining and a valid argument you can upvote all three! Essentially it allows you to have a varying opinion on a post such as this and to express that varying opinion with options.

Note: The numbers listed in the above example are randomly picked for demonstration purposes.

Inversely you can also downvote:

http://i.imgur.com/gRbzYgu.png?2

This will, in my imaginings, bring up a list of other unlisted tags that you can suggest over the current tag. This will downvote the tag itself and at the same time upvote an unlisted tag (that number to the right, inside the box). If an unlisted tag reaches a higher score than a listed one then the unlisted tag will replace the currently listed tag's slot. In this example, if someone downvotes "Rito Plz" one more time and upvotes "QQ" one more time then "Rito Plz" will be replaced with "QQ". (The reason some are red and green will be discussed later)

^^^^^^This is the essential tl;dr. There is more, but this is the core of the system I have in mind. As for other more interesting intricacies please read on. Please do not let my lackluster MS paint skills negatively impact this idea >_<

#Cumulative score

Cumulative score is what the vote score is now, and is the large number to the left of the given example. This score is the sum of the listed 3 tags only. What this does is two things:

1. This allows, ideally, for a build-up of unlisted votes to happen. Making it harder to "topple" listed tags unless an unlisted tag has been keeping up.
2. Gives diminishing returns on the cumulative score. Each person gets effectively 3 votes on a post, which makes early voting (a huge pain point now) much bigger but late-game voting count for less. In other words, switching tags at 100+ votes won't give a huge boost to the score, it'll remain about the same.

#Tag bank

The more attentive of you have probably noticed that this system is shamelessly ripped off of imgur's. Well, you're right. BUT there are key differences. The biggest of which being there is no "suggest a tag" feature, each tag comes from a pre-determined bank of tags that is different based on which sub-community the post is in. You wouldn't need a [Bug] tag in the concept community for example. Obviously, this brings into question what tags to bring in, but I don't think this as big of an issue as one might think. Most of our posts here fall into one category or another.

Negative Tags

Ok so here's the reason why some tags are red and some are green in the second pic. Some tags count negatively towards the cumulative score. Tags like [Spam], [QQ], [Troll], and [Hate] are all examples. These tags function just like the others except if they make it into one of the listed slots that tag's score will count against the cumulative score. This does two things:

1. Still allows for killing of low-brow posts from the start while making it harder to do so illegitimately. Example: Legit post starts with 3 positive tags the OP gives-->troll come in and votes for negative tags in an attempt to kill it early-->Has to vote for at least 2 different tags to negatively impact the thread at all. Do not underestimate subtle additional hassle for troll actions.
2. Even if the post has 300+ votes the significance of a single vote is still much greater, as a single vote towards a negative tag to "topple" a listed tag is a huge impact. Not only does this heavily encourage voting but it also heavily encourages voting even on really high core posts, something even Reddit doesn't do.

#Another example

Let's use this post!!!!! As an exercise, if you would be so kind to indulge me, in a comment below please list three tags you would assign to this post and let's see how many coincide. Personally I would go with [Idea], [Riot Please], and [Proposal]

#Previous discussions on this topic

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/miscellaneous/tjRUtkyh-voting-on-boards-content http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/site-feedback/lIplPTPL-what-is-a-vote http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/site-feedback/NkiNNxaG-idea-category-tags-can-help-everything-heres-why

Please feel free to broach this subject here as well. Although feedback on this idea would be awesome as well. Why not both?! ^_^