Buffer Time for Board Posts

EMOFRATPARTY·Sep 2, 2014·4 votes·1,413 views

Pendragon started a pretty popular topic last week about voting on the boards. The subject itself is pretty controversial, but one of the proposed solutions to immediately eliminating posts from making it to the "Hot" page is the idea of a buffer.

The buffer would act as a period of time between the start of a post and the display of its votes. Therefore, all posts are on equal ground for a set amount of time; once the buffer time has passed, the votes for the post are shown and the post is moved around in the way currently handled by the underlying system.

Are you in favor of the buffer idea? If so, what amount of time would work best? Please leave comments regarding how we can improve this concept, whether or not you agree.

4 Comments

DaenSep 2, 20142 votes

I'd say 15 minutes, mainly because it matches with the time period for changing a title. Anything longer than that and it starts to feel like there is no power to quickly show appreciation or get rid of a trolly thread, in my opinion.

EMOFRATPARTYSep 2, 20141 votes

I'm in agreement. I think it keeps the post and voting flow consistent as well, all the while still giving each post a fair chance.

EDIT: To touch on the post I was referencing, this post about a community poll was downvoted within 10 minutes of being posted, and there was only 1 vote for 5 views. The buffer would, ideally, prevent something like that from happening immediately after the creation of a post.

Hyrum GraffSep 2, 20141 votes

What if you're posting at 6am, and you only get 10 views in 15 minutes, one of whom downvotes your post? You've essentially been silenced, just like the current system.

DaenSep 3, 20141 votes

What if you're posting at noon and you get 5000 views in 15 minutes, none of whom are able to show appreciation for your thread? What if everyone is getting that same view volume and no threads move?