The Problem with Thumbs up...or Down

Nothing, if somebody wants to spend that much time and energy. In that case I assume I could appeal my case to the moderators/creators, who are able to see what's going on.

Algorithms. For example, we already have some that discard posts coming from the same IP (even if it looks like it shows up). And for this particular case the plan is to make algorithms to begin discarding votes if the use pattern looks that abusive.

For example, the algorithm could limit someone's total votes on one member to X amount in the aggregated databases but keep the votes for the member's own use (in collapsing posts) if case they aren't abusive.

That's just one very simple example, but algorithm design is one of the things I like, and I have a lot of ideas on how to use it with the data to minimize the abuse. There is wisdom in the crowd even if the crowd is not all wise, and the key in using it is in identifying the best statistical and technical approaches to extract the useful information.

Since there can obviously be no way to police people voting by any particular standard; it means the consensus tends to like your submissions or not. No more. No less. I know of no voting anywhere where the poll-keepers can insure voters vote by a particular set of standards. This doesn't change the overall utility of the vote.
Quite the contrary. I expect at least some of them to develop enormous reps since their correct answers will be thumbed and frequently so. Hell, the Marlboro sub-culture may gang up and vote themselves into the stratosphere... So what? Some abuse one way or another doesn't change the utility of the system. Get over it.

check out dancerdoll's profile.

Where? I've never heard of the person.

http://able2know.org/user/dancerdoll/

she posts sort of silly young person types of threads and has a negative 177.something rep right now.

If the votes are for personal navigation why do we see the tally? I can see why people would take it in the wrong way. I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with it, but I can see where people would misunderstand the point.

Anyway there's bound to be some weirdness in the beginning of a new platform.

Imagine Onion if he had come in at the break.

I doubt he would have stayed around...

It's not just for personal navigation though, it's a system that is designed to perform the default editorializing of the site. Previously that was one person doing it manually, now it's collective but you have the options to opt out of the system's default sort.

So it provides you tools for personal navigation, and the aggregate data of those individual decisions is used to make default recommendations. And if someone doesn't like those, they can sort by something else and it goes away.

Am I losin' it, or did the individual post rankings just disappear??

Great, thanks.

Cycloptichorn

I think your losing it....I can still thumbs up/down your posts....or are you talking about something else?

Mine are still here.

There's a bug, where the thumbs up/down don't always match up right.

Cycloptichorn

Nope it's me, sorry, brain fart.

Carry on...

-177.78
I'm thinking the system is still being tweaked.

maybe, but why just her?

Small number of posts, large number of negative votes.

Or so I would imagine.

s'what I figured.

Guys please listen.
This is the the EXACT reason we DON'T want the ranking system. Each one of us discussing this is perfectly able to seperate the 'weed from the chaff' so to speak. We know a **** post when we see one, so why do we need it?
I like to think that I'm a respected member (although not by all) of the a2k community now. Most of my posts are met with some kind of enthusiasm or acknowldgement.
Well go back and look at my first posts. They're exactly the sort of posts described in the above post. Teribbly immature. I'm embarassed that anyone can look at them, lots of teenager emotional bullshit. But I'm keeping this account, because I like people to seen how I've grown. And thats the point. This is ABLE to know. Not 'we already know and we're keeping the knowledge to ourselves.'
Able2know has helped my development as a person beyond belief, and maybe I'm going a bit overboard, but I don't see how rating a person is going to help anyone grow. We want to be free to ask questions, not forced into always trying to come up with intelligent posts.

I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but the auto up on reply tweak is tipping the balance more toward positive. The trivia threads are all growing back up as new people reply to them.