Do you think complaining about how people vote for your answer here on Askville is worth the effort?

Similar questions: complaining people vote answer Askville worth effort.

Yes actually - I do This is a growing community that's still coming together and finding its feet. Part of that process will be gauging what voting systems work and what don't. Even if an Askviller's complaints don't technically accomplish anything, I think it's very healthy to maintain a regular rhetoric about both the triumphs and pitfalls of this site.In the end it can and hopefully will lead to a stronger, better functioning community.

As for Askviller's worrying about how their answers are received I don't see it as an unhealthy harbinger whatsoever. The whole point of this site is to help others. If we receive poor ratings (and let's assume it's not based on a form of abuse per the site's TOS), then what are we doing wrong?

How are we not being as helpful as we thought we were? Am I not communicating adequately? These are all thoughts toward self-improvement.

I'd be more worried about someone who spits out one-word answers, gets heaps of negative ratings, takes up valuable answer slots, and shrugs it off. That is what I would call immature - not a conscientious answerer.As for the rest of the questions, when you're looking at the whole scope of life, what are any of us doing here? Sure there are lots "better" ways to be spending our time.

But we find some form of respite here. And many of us care about what we do here and the community here. Remember, a job worth doing is worth doing well.

And this is a "job" that I find definitely worth doing, worth caring about, and worth my time..

That's a pretty profound leap. Obsessing over anything can be problematic - or it can be the mental mechanism which results in great works of art or literature - or businesses which succeed while others fail. Did Van Gogh obsess?

Yes, yes he did, and we're all the better for it. We probably overuse the term "obsess". When discussing ourselves we are prone to use less "negative" terms - "I am not obsessed by the task, but preoccupied.

It has my full focus." Likewise for "immature mind". Who defines a mind so?

Who has such vision, such presciense, as to decide that someone else has an immature mind - particularly so when the decision is based solely on participation in a community such as askville? In answer to your question, though, details aside, I say that yes, for a community such as this to exist and prosper each member must care about their answers, the votes their answers receive and the votes they cast. Otherwise this community will go the way of so many others that have degenerated into nonstop nya nya.

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Complaining No, I don't think it's worth the effort. We can't change anything, the members of Askville, only the "powers that be" really can, so any concerns about the voting should be taken directly to them. I have seen some honestly confused over the outcome of an answer rating, and I can understand that.

The voting system with "best answer" and non-voting askers can be very confusing. They are looking for an understanding of the system and how the voting is figured, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I am happy to provide clarification on questions like that, for people who are only trying to figure this place out.

And we all have an occasional rating that really frustrates us, and we might need to vent that frustration--and who better to vent to than our fellow Askvillers! But, I feel that to repeatedly complain about how others rated you is rude to those that rated you, and demonstrates kind of a "poor sport" attitude in general. My feeling is, if there is a genuine problem with the voting, and obvious flaw, then let Askville handle it.

There is nothing the rest of us can do about it. Poppet! 's Recommendations I see Dead People Voting - funny bumper stickers (Medium) .

Generally no, but there are a couple reasons I can see... First off, yes this site is in beta, so you can indeed affect change to a degree. I think it’s somewhat imporatant if you have the capacity to be unemotional about it, and have a coherent point to make, then I think it can be productive, particularly if you add askville community to the topics (which I intend to do here, as I want them to see my comments). Askville has addressed this issue directly more than once, and unfortunately I do not agree with their last pronouncement, so I can certainly put forth my reasons why I do not agree, but based on the mindset they’ve adopted, I anticipate their fix to the problems will not be the same one I’ve adopted.So, I think if your interest is not so much in just complaining about something that at the end of the day I think everyone has to acknowledge really isn’t all that important in the grand scheme of things, as it is in trying to make this a better site because you enjoy spending time here and find it to be a valuable resource in your day to day life, and feel that there are certain types of voting activity occurring which if left unchecked will ultimately result in this site being of diminished value to you, then I think it’s not only worth the effort, but it’s essential.

That said, however, I feel a great deal of the complaining that happens lacks the proper perspective, and even when the points made are absolutely, undeniably correct, I suspect that the majority of the complaining that occurs is more out of a sense of anger...it simply makes a person feel better. And if you need to vent, as long as you don’t let loose with an obscenity laded diatribe personally attacking other individuals, I guess I seem no harm in it...is it worth the effort? Probably not in the grand scheme of things...but if it makes you feel better to have your say, then I see no specific problem with it.

I’ll give a great example of the difference between productive and unproductive complaining. I tend to take a very strong position on immigration in favor of reforming it to allow more people into the country legally. I tend to see the problems we have with illegal immigration as a symptom of a poorly designed policy which gives people who most want to come here no legal avenue to do so, and an incentive to come here illegally because of the way our laws are structured, which benefits the interests of businesses who pretty much hold all the political power in our country anyway, making positive change a hard thing to ever hope for.

I have experienced first hand the problems that this system creates, and particularly the problems in the lives of natural born American citizens who have these people as integral parts of their families, when the government decides to deport these people without regard for the impact on its own people. So, when I noted in a discussion about whether we bought the argument that going to war in Iraq made us safer at home (I did not), one person I know to be extremely conservative stated that the best way to make us secure was to deport every illegal alien. I pointed out that I felt he had no real understanding of the issue based on these factors if he truly felt that way.

Next thing I know, this person asks a question about whether or not all illegals should be deported. I took the opportunity to expand greately on my position.In my answer I used my real life example to illustrate what a destructive policy this would be. I had first hand experience here in how these rules really work and how they affect real peoples’ lives.

But this person being who he is, and another person whom I know to be even more conservative answered the question, and by and large, I was the dissenting voice...yet I had what I believe was the least "theoretical" answer, one which was substantial in nature, and was supported by not only statistics anyone could have dug up, but by my real world, real life experience.In my mind, this was nothing short of a great answer. But it received a weak rating...I lost 10 coins and 5 experience points in several topics. And I am certain that these two aforementioned individuals rated me awful, because they did not agree with my position.

Now, there is no objective standard by which my answer could have been considered to be "weak". I have personally made a point to rate people fairly when I ask or answer questions, even if I don’t agree with their answers. I believe a great answer goes above and beyond, a good answer provides great details, an okay answer just answers the question nothing more or less, a weak answer barely answers the question or answers only a part of it but provides no support, and an awful answer doesn't address the question asked and/or attacks the asker.

This to me is a fair and objective standard which I think could have some parameters put around it to make it an official ratings guideline. But, Askville does not agree with this, per their latest blog entry. They feel that given an opinion question, if you disagree with someone else's opinion, you shouldn't have to regard the quality of the answer...if you find the answer itself to be flawed from your perception, that's a fine reason to rate it poorly.

I think that's just too subjective, and I believe if you allow a subjective standard to be used in voting, negativity will ruin it. The saying one bad apple spoils the whole bunch could not be more clearly illustrated than by the voting process here, because for a question like this one, my voluminous answer full of support, stories, statistics, etc. Would be looked at by a person who takes a hard line on immigration to be an absoultely awful answer, wheras another person might simply respond with "deport the ones here, shoot the rest whent they try to cross", and that person might think this is a "great answer". Now something like this, I know it is Askville's policy that this is A-OK, so complaining about it might fall on deaf ears, so I might not really bother worrying too much about it.

But I do think it's not immature, but rather a natural human emotion that if you put effort into something, as I certainly did in answering that question, the least you can hope for is some positive feedback on your work...to have someone trash what you've done simply because they don't want to hear what you have to say, and to have that be acceptable behavior in the eyes of the moderators, seems kind of insulting, and even though Quest Coins are so far worthless (and I suspect they will remain virtually worthless), it does provoke ire. In a case like this, I didn't think it was appropriate to report abuse, because they're not abusing the system in the way Askville intends it to be used. But even thought it wasn't productive, it didn't keep me from posting a short and sweet comment about how I felt my answer was anything but weak, and I felt a couple people needed to learn to be a bit more objective because it doesn't serve the community...that made me feel better and maybe (but probably not) gave the raters pause to consider how they will vote next time.

I have to say, I don't think it's immature to be proud of what I've accomplished...I've gotten 3 weak ratings out of all the questions I've ever answered, and I don't feel that any objective analysis of any of the questions would have supported a description of "weak", I think at best this is a misnomer. So, it boils down to for me, sometimes letting off steam makes me feel better, but I accept and understand it's just part of the game, and when it comes down to it, the whole coins/experience thing is after all just a game. But it is a place I enjoy coming to, and I feel that if we allow negativity and hostility to get in the way of objectivity, and I think it could start to drive out the people who give credit where credit is due, if every time as more people who have an axe to grind this behavior is sanctioned by Askville, it sets up the site to attract and retain increasingly divisive and vindictive people, and those with a sense of fair play are just going to get fed up with spending an hour writing a great answer, only to find that invariably those answers are falling on deaf ears.

So, in the past, when my answer or anyone elses which I felt was underrated for subjective reasons, I was far more vocal about it, simply because I'd like to keep this as a valuable resource and not see it degenerate in this manner. But Askville has spoken...they are claiming to be working on ways to make it better, just not the way I think they should...so it's not worth wasting much breath on it. I do not think though that my desire to have a forum like this and make it a good place for like minded people to come is immature or unhealthy.

It would be unhealthy for example to act like that guy did who drove cross country to burn down another guy's trailer for making fun of him on line. I can handle negative feedback if it's fair...I'm not always perfect, and I look at criticism as a learning opportunity, and I think this SHOULD be a forum in which fair criticism can be shared because constructive criticism will improve the content on this site over time. But I don't think to rate someone's answer as awful because you disagree with what they have to say, when that person supported his arguments, and spent a great deal of time and effort working on an answer, is really constructive, I think it's destructive, and I think that it's important to point this out wherever you see it because if Askville won't police the site, then we have to be able to self police, by for example avoiding questions where we know we're going to get treated poorly in relation to our contribution.

It can be about raising awareness. Having said that, if all you do is complain that your answers are consistently being underrated, perhaps you have to look at the pattern. Maybe your answers really aren't as great as you think they are.

Sure there are going to be people to take this way too seriously, and people who think way too highly of themselves, and yes there will be unhealthy and immature minds writing here, but I don't think complaining about how your answers are rated is 100% of the time an indication of this. Look at a few things when you see these complaints...how centered is the person...are they making a coherent and valid point, or not? How often are they complaining...every time they get an okay answer?

Are they really obsessing, or are they trying to make a valid point and trying to improve the Askville experience? That's far more important than just the fact that they might have complained...even though in the grand scheme of things, you're right, there are far more important things to care about..

Not at all I don't believe it's indicative of an unhealthy mind to obsess about ratings here or points, but I don't think it's worth the effort involved either. The quest coins have no value (right now at least), and it just seems pointless to concern one's self with the opinion of others when it's so varied and impossible to define.

Following from a question on mental health, several people have asked for my story about The Priory - it's on the DB. " "Why are so many people complaining about how boring Askville now is, but still spending a lot of time here? " (10 answers) "Believe me I am not complaining but has Askville got rid of the TownSquare?

If so YAHOO! " "How much is my vote worth? Why didn't the answer I voted highest get best answer?" "What do the people who oppose universal health care want?

Or do they even want an answer? " "Do you ever wonder why people post questions on Askville and no matter what your answer is they reply "Thanks"?" (11 answers) "How many people answer questions here on Askville on an average day? " "Ever have days when it just seems like too much effort to answer questions, even though you want to?

" "Why doesn't askville allow you to read other people's answers, before you post your answer?" "Is it true that some people are payed to answer questions on Askville?

Following from a question on mental health, several people have asked for my story about The Priory - it's on the DB.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.