A lot of people upvoted [...] Why would you do such a thing?
I upvoted because when I saw it it was sitting at −3 or thereabouts and I thought the right place for it was more like −1 or 0. (I think it’s almost certainly wrong, but the idea is interesting to think about and I wouldn’t bet more than 20:1 against there being some substantially better idea that it might provoke someone to have.) If I come back tomorrow and see it at +2 I’ll change my vote.
There is something to be said for a strict policy of “vote for things you want to see more of, against for things you want to see less of” without regard for others’ opinions, but in practice I bet there’s enough of an information-cascade effect (where people are influenced by prior votes to vote in the same direction as the others) that I don’t mind occasionally pushing against the flow, in either direction.
A rating that close to 0 is unstable (it can fluctuate towards the positive), and the strategy of keeping the rating near zero negates the signal of how many people judge a post bad. Keeping it above at least minus 15 or so seems more defensible.
I upvoted because when I saw it it was sitting at −3 or thereabouts and I thought the right place for it was more like −1 or 0. (I think it’s almost certainly wrong, but the idea is interesting to think about and I wouldn’t bet more than 20:1 against there being some substantially better idea that it might provoke someone to have.) If I come back tomorrow and see it at +2 I’ll change my vote.
There is something to be said for a strict policy of “vote for things you want to see more of, against for things you want to see less of” without regard for others’ opinions, but in practice I bet there’s enough of an information-cascade effect (where people are influenced by prior votes to vote in the same direction as the others) that I don’t mind occasionally pushing against the flow, in either direction.
A rating that close to 0 is unstable (it can fluctuate towards the positive), and the strategy of keeping the rating near zero negates the signal of how many people judge a post bad. Keeping it above at least minus 15 or so seems more defensible.