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So what's the deal with downvotes?

Being someone who's not a regular at this forum, I've been paying attention to Strip Search and wanted to publicly ask about the scheduling decision that PATV made for the show. Finding no better place for it I picked the Strip Search forum and commented on the latest episode.

And now some.... (guess I'll follow the forum rules here)... silly goose has downvoted my comment and my profile is now marked with said downvote.

First of, what is the purpose of allowing users to downvote other people's comments and have them be permanently displayed on your profile? Does collecting downvotes carry negative implications like forum bans or some similar punishments?

I'm still trying wrap my head around the reason behind the downvote since I wasn't exactly bashing the show, merely wishing that there were more episodes per week, so that each "day" on the show correlated with a whole week (that way the elimination episode could be consistently at the end of every week). Looking through the thread where I got my mark, I notice that this same individual has downvoted other posts for very little reason. One guy states that he wish that the show would do more drawing challenges instead of interview/twitter/business related challenges. That got downvoted. Couple of people agreed with him. Those got downvoted. Same guy behind all downvotes.

And finally, where does this power of downvote come from? Looking at other people's forum posts, I see the option of agreeing with post or saying it's awesome but those are my only options. So I can't downvote posts but this guy can, which he exercises religiously? How come? Also, people seem to be able to upvote posts, which I also can't do. And what's the difference between upvoting, agreeing with or finding posts awesome? Aren't all of those in essence the same thing; that you liked someone's post?

I don't know, the knowledge of there being a downvote system in place leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's too easy to abuse and usually ends up with people who have downvoted each others post in the past to form some petty rivalry, where they compete in looking up and downvoting all of each others posts, regardless of content. I've seen other forums that used to have the option of up and downvoting a post, remove the downvoting option, because it was more trouble then it was worth. If someone is posting something that's genuinely deserving of "Not Cool!" reaction, that's what the flag button is for and the moderators can decide if the user is stepping out of line.

And so help me god, if someone downvotes this... ಠ_ಠ

Posts

  • GethGeth Legion Perseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
    Product Placement has been kidnapped by -Tal and is being held for ransom! Solve the riddle to set em' free, or I'll hand em' over to Clamps!

    I had a NAME once
    But all things come to pass
    In the end, it ain't so bad
    I gained a lot of CLASS
    Which forumer am I?

  • GethGeth Legion Perseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
    Product Placement has been rescued by IcyLiquid.

  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    edited April 2013
    Downvotes can only occur on threads that can be viewed outside the forum proper, as the comment thread to something like a PATV episode or PA Report article. On the forum view they show up just as the avatar below your post like the Agrees and Awesomes, but they won't have an up or down indicator. You have to mouseover it to see whether it was up or down.
    This is because Tube hates joy stupid comment downvoting systems.
    Also joy.

    Tofystedeth on
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  • Product PlacementProduct Placement Registered User regular
    And there it is. So basically, I'm dealing with a someone who's treating the forum like a frigging youtube comment section. Then why does that need to be tied with your user profile? It's bloody disheartening to see that mark on your permanent record and I'm only about 5 posts into my forum history.

  • Bluedude152Bluedude152 Registered User regular
    No one on the forum actually cares about the downvotes. For why they are attached to the profile at all, who knows

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  • KharnastusKharnastus Registered User regular
    I have managed to acquire 5 downvotes. Does this make me a terrible human being? I can only assume so.

  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    No one on the forum actually cares about the downvotes. For why they are attached to the profile at all, who knows

    This. @Product Placement, there's no reason to be disheartened. Nobody on the forum gives half a shit about the downvotes. What some random person outside the forum thought about what you said on a PATV comment section or something won't make anybody here think less of you.

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    Downvotes have recently been turned off

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    And yes, they were totally fucking awful.

  • Product PlacementProduct Placement Registered User regular
    Don't worry you guys. I wasn't falling into a deep see of depression over this but coming in here as an outsider and noticing the downvotes, I immediately recognized them as a bad thing for a healthy forum community.
    Tube wrote: »
    Downvotes have recently been turned off
    And I can't state how much I agree with that move. Thank you for that.

    Now, on a curiosity note, can you explain why people can agree with comments and mark them as awesome as well? I ask mainly because I consider it functionally the same thing where someone likes your post.

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    One is saying that they agree with you. The other is that they think you said something awesome.

  • SyphyreSyphyre A Dangerous Pastime Registered User regular
    Agree and Awesome buttons cut down on a lot of the "me too!" style posts, imo.

  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    What Syphyre said.

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  • IcyLiquidIcyLiquid Two Steaks Montreal, QuebecAdministrator, Vanilla Staff vanilla
    What Syphyre said.

    This is top shelf humor.

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