BBB gets the message

BBB, I am tech-phobic as well, and it IS work to get used to the format change, but don't let the goombahs run ya off, please.

(you know I don't do this much...)

Rock

Stay a while, BBB. Don't take the thumbs personally. Give it time to work itself out. You will always be welcome here.

Hey BBB, don't take it personally. Voting is not about annoyance whatsoever. It is about people ranking their preferences on their homepages. It doesn't make your threads invisible or unvisited. I thumb down any thread I am not going to post in or follow, it doesn't mean absolutely anything else... I presume most people do the same.

BBB, Don't feel too bad. I've tried to send a message on a "regular" thread where I know I wanted to contact somebody who posted there, and I got a thumbs down. With no PM, what the hell are we supposed to do? This new site to too gaddam frustrating.

Completely unsurprising.

No matter what some of you guys say, people don't like seeing thumbs down and negative scores next to their threads! It's a negative connotation and a depressing thing.

Bye, BBB, I always enjoyed your posts, and I voted every one of your up that I could.

Cycloptichorn

I think this post validates some of what Cyclops has been trying to say for the last few days.

EDIT: Cyclops beat me by 1 minute.

Here's a thread devoted to thumbs up, thumbs down -- see what people say and explain about it, both good and bad: http://able2know.org/topic/121045-1

Cicerone, I've responded to one of your posts on the open voting thread -
http://able2know.org/topic/121122-13


BBB, what Dagmaraka says is true, and it is all being much discussed, especially in the link she gives, but elsewhere in other threads as well.

Absolutely spot on Cyclops. A newbie with a grammar question was downgraded, and as I recall, Craven thought that it was rude not to respond to some of these type threads and to respond negatively to others.

Sorry, Dag. One doesn't have to do a thumbs down to avoid a thread. Just don't participate.

Oh BBB - I'm not a techie either - but the new A2K still has the same folk as before and the thumbs down...well, I figure - if folk thumb my threads down - it's not personal (well, could be) but they just aren't interested in those particular subjects (boring to some ). We're all still here - and the people who you know and talk to are no different to how they were last week - don't disappear.... you know, who would I be able to post pics of The Arches too a? I don't do politics really and know you frequent those threads (I'm not voting any threads down at all - don't see the point) but would miss seeing you on the forum girl. Maybe give it a chance k? We're still a community. It's not personal for the majority voting on the threads.

(k....little idealistic world I live in - but it's nice to see you on the forum BBB)

Iz x

Letty, I disagree somewhat.....the current setup almost requires that one thumbs down threads that do not interest them. I wish there was an ignore button, but there's not.

Now that there is one "super-forum" instead of the nice groupings that we had in OldA2K, it would be near impossible to find any of the threads you're interested in.

I have to thumbs down posts so I can easily spot the one's I want to read.

that's what tagging is for...

One doesn't have to thumb up and down, no, but one can. It does not make the thread disappear for others or anything of the sort. And absolutely, it's an option to not participate and just sort threads by new posts and scroll. I prefer collapsing threads, so I have no gripe with the thumbing , in fact I like this function. I get voted down, too. Nothing personal. The newbie's thread is not going to go unanswered because of somebody's thumbs down.

I don't like tagging.

Others do. You'll still profit from it...

I wouldn't get too discouarged, BBB. You've always seemed to enjoy publishing here, in one place, news you find relevant, even if those articles don't always generate a huge discussion. Now, the volume of these threads means certain people not interested in them, particularly those on the right, are going to give them a thumbs down, if only to remove them from view so as to navigate more easily.

There have been many threads about the thumbs up/down. I think what's gone unnmentioned is the connotation of the word "reputation" on the user profile. While the arugment about voting down simply to remove threads from view makes sense, "reputation" is indeed a loaded word, particularly when placed in such proximity to "questions answered," right? The implication being that newbies or one-time users coming here simply for advice may click on a profile to help guage the credibility of the poster. Thus, a fully competent regular whose "reputation" has been "damaged" simply due to the nature of their posting habits (say, for example, someone who likes to start trivia threads) may not be taken seriously as a result.

Or take H2O Man, aka "The Least Annoying Person Ever." He certainly risks losing his Water Crown to archenemies Gary Slusser and Andy CWS, as poor souls with defunct water softeners will click on his profile, see his paltry "reputation" (the result of his idiotic participation in politics threads) and defer to the advice of the other water dudes.

In sum, I don't believe anyone who says they use the thumbs up/down soley for navigation purposes is being completely honest. Unless their own reputation is below average. Yet I think it is a factor to be taken into consideration. And, on the bright side, I think everyone is a little trigger happy, myself included, since it is a new feature. I guarantee thumb activity will sharply decrease in the next few months.

I guess so......but what if I don't know what I'm going to be interested in?

It would be nicer if I could say something like..."show me all tags that have to do with relationships, word games, language translations, verbs, nouns, javascript, etc". If there were a way to EXCLUDE tags that I don't want to see, but include everything else (including non-tagged items) then that would be helpful.

Yes, but the question is - is it enjoyable? Is it a pleasing and fun experience? For BBB the answer is a decided no and if you pay attention you will see that MANY members feel the same way.

Negative connotations don't go away just b/c someone says they are not negative. It's not a question of whether or not it's efficient. It's a question of emotion.

Cycloptichorn

Garg, well said!