I’d go even further and make the comment mandatory. Or remove likes/dislikes altogether and use ratings like “irrational” or “off-topic” or “I personally disagree” instead, along with the ability to add some more explanation.
My thought was that most people who do make the distinction between “I personally disagree” and “you don’t provide a proper argument” are also the people who are unlikely to vote down simply because they disagree. I could be wrong.
You can imagine that I clicked “I personally disagree” on your comment.
The problem is, unless I also explain why, I will seem like a jerk. But if I explain, it will cost me time, so naturally after writing a few careful explanations I will simply stop downvoting.
The suggestion for different types of rating is a particularly good idea. Why you were downvoted isn’t always obvious, and this makes it hard to get feedback from a downvote. I think too many people downvote based upon their agreement with a commenter’s position rather than how well it is justified, which isn’t how I think the system should work. I’ve upvoted a number of comments I disagree with but thought were argued well.
I’d go even further and make the comment mandatory. Or remove likes/dislikes altogether and use ratings like “irrational” or “off-topic” or “I personally disagree” instead, along with the ability to add some more explanation.
+5 insightful, +5 funny :-/
It’s not a new idea and it has been tried. Slashdot spent years experimenting with different karma models—that is valuable empirical data.
Irrational; off-topic; trite; redundant; attitude; poorly written/expressed; I personally disagree.
Rational; interesting/clever; positive vibe man!; I don’t really care, but feel that you have been unfairly downvoted.
Problem: I suspect that most people who down vote because “I personally disagree” might actually click “irrational”.
I think on LW a lot of people can distinguish “I personally disagree” from “you don’t provide a proper argument”.
My thought was that most people who do make the distinction between “I personally disagree” and “you don’t provide a proper argument” are also the people who are unlikely to vote down simply because they disagree. I could be wrong.
I think it depend on the context. There are cases on LW when voting down because you disagree makes sense and others where it doesn’t.
This is likely, and requiring a comment or some additional feedback might be a good idea for calling something irrational.
You can imagine that I clicked “I personally disagree” on your comment.
The problem is, unless I also explain why, I will seem like a jerk. But if I explain, it will cost me time, so naturally after writing a few careful explanations I will simply stop downvoting.
The suggestion for different types of rating is a particularly good idea. Why you were downvoted isn’t always obvious, and this makes it hard to get feedback from a downvote. I think too many people downvote based upon their agreement with a commenter’s position rather than how well it is justified, which isn’t how I think the system should work. I’ve upvoted a number of comments I disagree with but thought were argued well.
I find it amusing that the comment above this one was downvoted without explanation.