note
seattlejohn
I think about this in a different way that leads me to believe that the <tt>++ < -- </tt> organization makes perfect sense. Namely, <tt>++</tt> votes are much more common than <tt>--</tt> votes. Thus it makes sense to have <tt>++</tt> appear at the beginning of the voting-buttons list rather than at the end. (It does make me wonder if I'd want the buttons in reverse order if I were reading right to left.)
<p>I suppose you could also ask why the English expression is "plus-or-minus <i>x</i>" rather than "minus-or-plus <i>x</i>". Negative-precedes-positive may correspond to the way we visualize a number line, but I simply don't think it maps to our day-to-day expectations in a case like this. The fact that you used it for a year without noticing is another sign, imho.
<p> <font color="#666666">$perlmonks{seattlejohn} = '<a href="http://www.clyman.com">John Clyman</a>';</font>
221579
221579