Oh Boy! Popularity contests, already.

Foxfyre- Exactly. One of the things that makes an internet community more interesting is the ability to hear different viewpoints. That's the way humans learn. I have learned interesting stuff from people whose views I would never endorse, but it made me see something in a different way.

Yes, I've learned SO much from the "PENIS ENLARGEMENT GUARANTEED!!!" spam.

Two points that I'm not sure are getting through:

1.) No opinion-type stuff will actually be censored -- it will all be there, just more or less visible.

2.) Voting can/ will/ should be used to get rid of just plain old no-redeeming-value stuff like spam.

You're saying you won't vote down spam either?

I agree with this.
I also gather that people who vote down a whole lot will eventually have their votes count less seriously, somehow, by virtue of the algorithm. Craven explained this, I think it was in the thread about voting. I like this aspect. When I vote down for something other than spam, if and when I do, it'll be for something I think is "has not site value" - that's not Craven's phrase, but mine, but he expresses something similar on judging about threads or posts. It's not
supposed to be about popularity of posters, as such, or even about your not being interested in Basket Weaving.
Or that's my interpretation of what Craven said (stand to be corrected).

Soz- Not only will I vote down spam, I will report it, as I always have. There is something about a cheap chisler who tries to get a free ad that really pisses me off, no matter what the content. Obviously, porn has no place on A2K! (I hope I don't get an argument about that! )

Looks like a new avatar for Calamity jane.

Wasnt when I first went to my profile. Default was -5 and -10, or the other way round. Dont know what it is now (obviously, since I've now personalised my settings).

Point is, Phoenix - reporting something means that a moderator has to follow up and do something about it. And there arent that many, and they've got lots to do, so they might not get round to it quickly either.

Thats why this voting thing is very useful. It means that we, as community, can take part of that load of their shoulders. By already voting stuff like that down ourselves, and therewith (if enough of us do it) making it disappear for most users.

http://able2know.org/topic/120962-1#post-3359668

Hey, thats very cool! But not what Osso and I were talking about.

What Osso talked about, or at least what I thought she talked about and I responded to, was whether posts or topics become invisible once enough people have voted it down. When I went to check my profile, the default was, like, -10 or more votes made a topic disappear by default and -5 or more votes made a post disappear by default (or the other way round, I forget). And if you want to see all posts regardless of how many people vote them down, you needed to change the setting to "no collapsing".

What Craven's thread in your link is about is the default for how every post appears. Like, do they appear in this standard size with scrollbars if they are longer; or do they automatically expand to size. Default was the standard size with scrollbars. I had already changed my preferences to having them all expanded, and was kinda worried that the default being a short box where you have to scroll for any post longer than a throwaway line would discourage longer or more substantive posts. So I'm happy with this change.

Understand you, nimh. That's just what I saw, or think I saw. (Who knows what I saw by now?) Let's say that was a possibly transitory posted opinion.

On another subject, somewhat related re what happens to collapsed spam, if it is collapsed. I remain unclear whether we should or shouldn't report spam, re whether it is helpful or more work for mods.

Please report if it's spam added to a topic; vote it down if it's its own unique topic.

Thanks.

Thanks, Jes, VERY helpful post there.

Uh, please report either. We'd like to delete spam, not just vote it down. Most of it's aimed at search engine links and not traffic so voting it down and still leaving it there doesn't provide much deterrent.

Well, true; I'm just figuring voted down stuff can be found pretty readily by us whereas when it's buried in a preexisting topic it's a lot tougher.

So, it's kinda what both of us said, but without a doubt please report the spam that's attached to preexisting topics. Reporting the individualized spam topics is also good, although they can also be located if voted down.

Either way, please don't just let spam go by. Doesn't take long to vote it down if you don't have the time to report it.

when was you a bad girl Jane? i'm bad all the time

We had the rating system on our local newspaper forums for years. "The Baltimore Sun" It caused so many problems between posters that they canceled the rating system.

Free beer for anyone who votes this post up!

LOL

Three already. Keep up the support people!

where's my beer?