Interesting discussion. This whole downvote issue is a bit scary anyways, as I get worried every now and again thinking.. what if someone decides to hate you and downvotes you just to be mean? The big guys can easily destroy a small fish.
I went through this post of yours and in your list of friends I was of course particularly interested in the artists. When I looked at patimaker's blog, the last three posts were downvoted to nothing and the guy seemed to have given up out of frustration... the posts are hidden and there is no indication of why that happened. Except for one person calling him "scammer", but without explanation.
Since one can make any hidden content visible at the click of a button, I wonder if there might not be a better way to deal with the issue. What if one could only downvote in combination with a comment (maybe even in a separate window), as to why one chose to do so? Regardless of their reputation.. the comments would not only reveal the reasons, but maybe also some of the personality, if someone just throws in two arrogant words and wants to display their power or if someone is genuinely concerned..
That's one of the big problem here, and why downvote can have serious implication, I believe it resulting in the retention rate of the platform....quite a few people join but few really stay around and some are butted out because someone does not agree with their opinion or just make an assumption an rally support to take down the account...there is abuse among high rep account as well and its often ignored, most people would not stick around with the BS and hypocrisy
Yes, I think its the problem in any system... the moment you have people involved, there is always an element of well... chaos.. in lack of a better word.
I want to believe, that all these things like reputation all very well contemplated in search of the best possible way... "unfortunately" its human nature, to always look for alternative paths or even "shortcuts". That's ok, if not even great, because it helps the "life form" to evolve, as long as this behavior doesn't hurt your fellow human. I guess, that's why we developed ethics and rules. So, what do you do, when ethics aren't working for some? You have to add more rules, which this is about, if I understand this correctly. And sometimes an even bigger adjustment seems necessary... I'm sure the developers here are much smarter than I am, but sometimes I think an "outsider" can bring in an idea which may seem silly, but sparks a much better idea in the end.
That's why I'd like to come back to the downvote and flagging issue one more time... every now and again, I see someone from an Asian country with a very low rep making a comment on my blog. As someone living in the so called western world (Germany) I might be tempted to quickly think... ok, another scammer. But that is why I would like to see a feature implemented to make people hesitate and think for a moment. What if that person acts in good faith and doesn't even understand his way could be perceived negatively? They might not speak English and someone told them to copy a phrase and use it as a comment.. not even knowing what it means? They are doing that a few times in an attempt to be nice, get flagged and their rep is down the drain... We measure someones action by what it means in our own culture, but what if there is a completely different mentality behind it?
I think it would be good to follow timcliff's suggestion for the pull request. Also so everyone is accountable for what they are doing. At the same time and for the same reason, negative feedback should only be possible by justifying ones action.
A great idea, @reinhard-schmid! Why not make it possible to see who has cast a down vote just like it is possible to see who casts an upvote for an article. More transparency and accountability is good for the platform. I love the idea of making a comment necessary, but it would be easy enough to put gibberish in the comment, so I don't think that would be effective.
Thank you for your kind answer. See, the thing is, when someone repeatedly downvoted and only added "nonsense comments", it would say something about that person. And just like the platform tries to find ways to defend itself against spam, one might find ways to defend against such... how should I say.. troll-ish behavior..
That's true, @reinhard-schmid. It would still be successful in this way.
There has been a lot of conversations around this. There still isn't really consensus on a solution yet. It is good continue to brainstorm ideas though. It is an important issue to get right.
Its being heavily discussed, I know, but like you say, all the brainstorming will hopefully lead to a better solution eventually. Do you know, what happened to patimaker?
I don't know.