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What is a vote?

Sir ArmaMalum·7/17/2014, 3:37:31 PM·15 votes·2,577 views

######I'm really tempted to make this into a full-blown SALT, but for sake of speed I'll save it for later.

Hi, I'm Sir ArmaMalum and one may call me a major supporter of CB. Well....I am. But that doesn't mean I don't also have problems with it as a whole. While I still prefer it over vBulletin there is one major thing I don't like about the CB's voting system, the question of why you're voting.

I'm just going to answer this question for you. Voting is a decision of "Do you want this post to see more eyes?" As that's the direct result of your vote. It's NOT an "I agree/disagree" decision. Through my recent experiences I have found some of you may not be old enough (unless of course you lied on my survey :P) to truly understand the difference between those options so I'll give an example:

A post titled "Diana is OP and here's why" versus "DIANA IS OP DELETE HER NOW". Both say the same essential thing, but I'll upvote the former and downvote the latter because the first gives an explanation and the second is just whining and accomplishes nothing. Personally I disagree with both, I don't believe Diana is OP but I'll upvote anyway because the first took thought and effort to explain their opinion.

There aren't many ways to incorporate this logic into the actual voting system. In other words there are not many easy ways to have the system itself 'teach' this train of thought and go against the "I agree/disagree" logic. Feel free to post here with an idea of how to. (Taking out the voting system is not an option, if it's used right by us, the community, it can be a powerful and useful tool)

Addition 1:

But Sir, what if their explanation is long and detailed but simply wrong?
Quite simple that one, don't vote yet. Explain to them why it is wrong and your opinion. The nice thing about the CB is you can hold a 1 on 1 conversation quite easily no matter where the post is without influencing the post's visibility. Who knows? Your conversation may make him/her eventually agree with you and you can upvote the post to highlight that comment conversation. I've had civil arguments with a summoner named Mackledoge coming around to 20 some decently long replies that covered a lot of ground. And even though the OP wasn't the best I believe it should get upvotes for the good discussion it created.

Addition 2:

So only long drawn out posts are going to get your upvotes? Wtf man?
No, just the ones where I can actually see thought went into its creation. You can make a good point in a few sentences, but more often than not a better and more expanded explanation helps out. There are plenty of exceptions, it's just a normally common trait.

29 Comments

Uncle Istvan7/17/2014, 4:04:39 PM3 votes

Similar to reddit, Riot can put a little box on the downvote button when you hover over it that explains it's not a "disagree button" in addition to making it known in the rules sticky and board etiquette section. Perhaps even a header reminding people of what up/down voting is supposed to be for at the top of threads or in the comments sections.

Unfortunately there will always be children who downvote because they disagree with what people say. If we're going to keep the ability to downvote then other than posting the reminder everywhere that it's not a disagree button there's not really anything that can be done. If people want to mess with other posters by downvoting relevant discussion then they're going to do that. That's really the consequence of the reddit-style forum.

But on reddit it's not really an issue, even on the giant that is /r/leagueoflegends. Sure you'll always see if you scroll down through the comments people sitting at 0 or -1 even though they've posted something relevant or they're showing agreement with whatever the OP said because some kid disagrees. But you never see something truly relevant get left in the dust. The best posts find their way to the top of the thread for the most part.

If the community here can behave similarly to the community on the league sub-reddit then this system would be fine. But that's really the question, isn't it? What happens when GD finally comes over here? Something tells me they're not going to be as well behaved as the folks on /r/leagueoflegends.

Worgslarg7/17/2014, 4:22:47 PM2 votes

I downvote when I find that the post/topic is inflammaroty/spam, or the thread is simply complaining.

That said, I find that if i disagree with a topic, i usually leave it as is, instead of upvote, no matter how well presented it was.

The idiosyncrasies of the mind.

shazb0t7/17/2014, 4:59:37 PM2 votes

Came here expecting a Castlevania reference. I'm disappointed.

Hyrum Graff7/17/2014, 8:14:08 PM2 votes

Hey, I just want to drop in and say that it might be worth linking to the discussions here and here.

EMOFRATPARTY7/19/2014, 7:02:32 AM2 votes

Please turn this into a SALT.

mi ramfan7/17/2014, 9:26:51 PM2 votes

Yes, we all understand that upvotes and downvotes are MEANT to be used as a "this content is/is not worth reading" button.

Downvotes invariably end up being used to silence opinions, even though everybody knows what they're meant to be used for.

MrBuffington7/17/2014, 4:14:54 PM1 votes

I'm guilty of doing both (voting for visibility and voting for agreement/enjoyment), and I seldom downvote. I guess if I agree/'liked' with something, I'd rather other people see it as well.

Kitch267/17/2014, 9:20:20 PM1 votes

I think it would be tough to implement that in any fashion because that's essentially what it was before CB/BB, since it didn't affect post visibility back then. Outside of this reddit style, I have found that it is still a matter of "I Agree/Disagree".

I think the only way of really changing that is to have it posted in a highly visible and highly trafficked (see: "noticeable") location. Here is an example of reddit having PSAs for comment content

http://i.imgur.com/X8G3rQi.jpg

Where to put this and how to make it stand out, I'm not sure as I'm still getting used to this updated boards scheme