When is it appropriate to vote "uninteresting" on a question?

The only thing I want to add to what has already been said is that I agree that it shouldn't be used lightly. I hope everyone in Mahalo realises what they have here. Mahalo is a unique, positive, enjoyable place to be.

Mahalo seems to be used by many people as a positive, intelligent, friendly place to discuss things with a lot of interesting, honest, varied, but still welcoming people from all over the world. This is something that many people might not have in their usual "real lives". I think "niceness" - taking care to stay welcoming, positive, friendly and encouraging wherever possible, and taking care not to turn people off or discourage them unless something they have done is quite inappropriate or negative - is something that is very often missing from online communities.

The role of this factor in the appeal of Mahalo should not be underestimated. This is just my opinion, but I think pressing a button to vote something "uninteresting", just because you personally don't think the topic is particularly interesting, is toying with the continuation of this excellent and positive and friendly community that we have here. Most people are used to "what the internet is like", but that very thing... "what the internet is like" in a lot of cases.... is what makes many people have little time for it.

If you already have annoyances at work or in your daily life, due to people who just feel like going out of their way to dislike or de-value something you have sincerely said or done which does not cause any harm, why on earth would you want to then spend time around that sort of thing when you get home? When you get home you just want to relax, hear the real "content" of people's ideas, possibly help someone, and enjoy informative or helpful or fun information from someone else. Take that positive, welcoming atmosphere away, and the fun drains out of something like this incredibly quickly.

Occasionally you see someone whose internet signature is something like "Harden the F*ck Up, It's The Internet. " Okay. That's how some feel.

But that concept is also why many people spend as little time in internet communities as possible, and only use it for browsing or finding information. Most people can handle the wildness of the internet. But when it gets icky, many people will just choose not to.

And on top of those, there are some people who are really quite sensitive, delicate creatures, and would be far too shy to contribute to a community if they can see that there is a good chance that their contributions will be ignored, disliked, or marked unwelcome for reasons that are just subjective. Is the value of Mahalo increased by making it a place where everyone, even the more sensitive and shy members of society, feel welcome and valued? You bet it is.

These people may have many interesting and informative things to say.... but if they find the idea of saying it scary, we will never hear it. I think when something is not offensive or inappropriate for reasons like those Opher mentioned, and you simply personally find it uninteresting, there is a great way to vote it as such without being unwelcoming to anyone: Just ignore it. Now that I think about it from this angle, I feel like the most ideal thing would be to have a "vote inappropriate" button instead of a "vote uninteresting" button.

That's just my opinion, after seeing these "uninteresting" or "I don't like this" functions become a way for many internet communities to gradually incubate nastiness, clamouring for attention, and taking out your frustrations and dissatisfactions with the day you've had or your life in general . I like anything that prevents this, and I'm kind of unsupportive of anything that gradually encourages it, even unintentionally.

Mahalo does not specify the criteria for members using this tool. However, the following is what I would put in such a set of guidelines if Mahalo asked me to write one (which they haven't, but you did :)). An "uninteresting" vote should be used in the following cases: - Question is not a question (after voting "uninteresting, report it as inappropriate) - Question is offensive in an unjustifiable way (after voting "uninteresting, report it as inappropriate) - Question is spam (after voting "uninteresting, report it as spam) - Question is illegal (e.g. How do I smuggle XYZ into the country, where XYZ is an illegal substance) - Question is defamatory (e.g. It makes an unsupported negative statement about someone which is likely to be cause for legal action) - Question is harmful to Mahalo in an unjustifiable way (e.g. Why does Mahalo do XYZ, where XYZ is something negative, and the allegation is not supported by verifiable sources) - Question truly seems to not be of any possible interest to anyone as stated (e.g. What's the time?

Without stating a context in which such a question makes any sense to ask on Mahalo) A question should not be marked "uninteresting" in the following cases: - Although you may find it offensive, it is a legitimate question (e.g. Questions on sex education) - Question includes statements you disagree with but which do not follow any of the list of conditions in the previous list - You don't like the asker and are pursuing a vendetta against him/her In general, this is a tool given by Mahalo to its members to allow them to help police the site.As in other types of policing, you want to err on the side of caution, but don't want to allow bad behavior by askers to stand. Thus, use common sense and good judgment and you'll do fine.

Really the uninteresting vote does not have a standard for its use. Each user will have their own particular set of standards by which they judge whether or not a question is uninteresting. I myself reserve the usage of that button only for questions that I find completely uninteresting and have a compelling reason to feel that way.

Besides today I cannot clearly remember a time when I have used it to display my disinterest in a question. I never use the negative buttons lightly. (unhelpful or uninteresting) You are right that the uninteresting button should be used to denote abusive, offensive, harmful, confusing, or any sort of question that is a non-question.

Usually in these cases the report button should also be used to alert staff and they can possibly remove or edit the question to become answerable.

I've seen it used in all of the circumstances listed above, and I think that it is fine the way it is. People use the 'interesting' button to promote a question that they think is a good or thought ful question, so doesn't it make sense that the 'uninteresting' button should be the opposite? I think that when a question, like stated above, is offensive, confusing, or otherwise harmful, and then voted uninteresting, it will discourage the same kinds of questions from being asked again.

Of course, some people use it very lightly and vote on every question, good or bad. It really depends, because most of us Mahaloians use it as an opinion tool already. It gives everyone, not only the asker, an idea of many different aspects.

Hope this is what you were looking for, -coliflower.

It should be used for all the good reasons cited above. It is frequently used by new users in an effort to boost their own vote count in an attempt to win Best Answer. Have a look at who is voting "Uninteresting."

If it's a group of names from the legit community, usually we're trying to get rid of something inappropriate. If the "uninteresting" vote comes from someone else answering the same question, have a look at that user's answer. Frequently it will be someone new, and the community can then get to work via comments to try to gently re-educate regarding our etiquette in these matters.It can be very frustrating.

I only use it "for offensive, confusing, or otherwise harmful questions to the integrity of Mahalo. " I sometimes use it to remove repetitive questions, like the same question accidently posted twice, by voting uninteresting. I think if they get 3 votes it's removed.

Basically I only vote uninteresting if I think it should be removed. I think there are a lot of uninteresting questions (i.e. : mahalo.com/how-to-become-a-travel-agent-...) but I don't vote UI unless I think it should be removed.

I disagree with most of the other answers in that I think uninteresting means uninteresting. Those questions with more drastic problems may call for reporting; but, uninteresting means just that. The situation is quite different than the helpful/unhelpful vote which is about the quality and relevance of an answer.

I frequently use uninteresting when the subject of a question has already come up too much. Also, when a subject I am uninterested in comes up often. In practice, a question has to annoy me somehow or I won't bother to click on it to open and vote on it.

Sometimes though I click on a question expecting more detail inside and if there is none it gets an uninteresting. I think people should use this more often to improve the quality of questions, especially as long as Mahalo declines to offer a filter for subjects or sources.

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.