The ATS post rating system: Why not give "Stars" for bad posts too?

Hello All,

I started this thread to gauge members' thoughts on whether or not it would be a good idea, or considered an enhancement, for ATS to implement a negative (or "thumbs down") rating for posts or threads that one may disagree with or consider to be just plain bad.

Of course we all know and use the current post rating system, which allows members to anonymously award "stars" to those posts which we agree with, find to be noteworthy, or are just plain good. This in turn lets the poster know that whatever he or she has written seems to have resonated with a certain number of people. Typically, more stars tend to mean a higher quality post; of course this isn't always true but for the most part I'd say it's a good enough indication.

I know if I see a post that has a few more stars than most I'll actually take the time to read it. True too, and we've all seen how starring can get carried away, you might enter a thread where the first page of posters all have 20 or more stars for their posts no matter what side of the argument they're on... what use is that!

But haven't you ever just wanted to give someone a star or a thumbs down for a terrible post? I know I have. And why not? If we can give stars for good posts why shouldn't we also be able to give stars for bad ones.

Why not let the poster know, without having to publicly post a disagreement, that his or her contribution was no good? Even if that post has 10 stars! Perhaps this would cut down on jackass posts and could play a role in quality control.

If a member disagrees with something that another member has posted for any reason they should have the option to award a "negative star." Perhaps it would be a second row beneath the one that's there now. And instead of being a blue star it might be a red one.

Maybe if a particular member has racked up a designated number of red stars it would alert the mods to keep an eye on said member, which could prompt a warning. It could prove to actually be a useful moderation tool which may make it easier to track down members who are constantly ticking people off with their crappy or offensive posting.

Here's an example of a rating system from the daily mail.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7de75cf015f1.png[/atsimg]

Here you can see a thumbs up or thumbs down rating with a cumulative score on the side. I'd imagine that's a net score.

Maybe ATS could keep the star rating system but instead of accumulating them across the top of the post, there would be a tally similar to that on the daily mail site, where blue stars are given for thumbs up and red stars naturally would be given for thumbs down; with a cumulative score next to each...

I think it could be a great enhancement to this forum...

I'd be curious to hear other peoples thoughts on this to see if it would be worth proposing to the dream team. Of course there's always that chance that this has been discussed by the owners and has already been given the thumbs down.

[edit on 16-2-2010 by PhotonEffect]

It wont work

People will completely exploit it. I have lots of foes on this website and I can guarantee that anything I post will end up with a few redstars for that simple fact, and it will be the same for almost everyone.

The current system is fine, and IMO it should be left as it is

There's no point really.

I mean we already have that system in place. If you have NO stars or NO flags then that means people didn't like it.

It's non-acceptance by omition .

Besides, the ammount of coding that's involved for something like that, it's just not worth the effort, and as pointed out above, it would get taken advantage of.

~Keeper

Didn't we used to have a 10 point system, where you rated the post?

I want to think that the point system also had a -10 scale as well... kind of like a vote up / vote down thing.

...

Then again, my memory might be because of a time slip, but who knows.

This topic has been discussed and addressed over and over. Please address any additional thoughts to the ongoing discussion: ATS, BTS, What would you like to see in the future?


Thread closed.