@Real Music,
It is human nature that this type of "score" has a psychological effect on many people. Jespah keeps telling us that it doesn't matter, but
the site is putting a big number with symbols we all understand of approval or disapproval next to our posts. Some of us are beyond caring... but the amount of discussion that still comes up on this topic shows that many aren't.
Making thumbs public isn't for you Real Music, it is for the people who are being
bullied by thumb abuse. If people see that you are part of a clique that upthumbs personal attacks against any disagreement, it will reduce the impact.
Real Music is part of the clique here... people with a political ideology strongly to the left (which is fine) who make personal attacks on people outside their bubble (which is not fine).
When there are threads with specific, nasty personal attacks.... I suspect that you will see the same 7 names on the upthumb list for every one. It very clear that some people get downthumbs for everything they write no matter how innocuous. This is bullying.
You might be right...
making thumbs public might not stop the bullying behavior. It will shine a light on exactly who is behind the thumb abuse, and I suspect that will help the targets.
Anonymous thumbs lead to more nasty insults and less dialog. I understand that this isn't the intent, but it clearly is the result.