I didn't expect to be downvoted for ...

Also, doing away with the - vote effectively solves the problem of people trying to become the Most Unpopular.

In an electoral poll (assuming a compulsory voting system), you either cast a vote on a certain candidate or you cast an empty vote (an invalid vote). I don't think you can cast a - vote on any candidate.

update: :D

Since I'm a saint now, I can tell people not to bother about XP, for it doesn't mean anything (ever noticed that mostly saints say that? ;-) Anyways, it's true to some extend. Before I reached my sainthood, I truely appreciated a lot of ++ votes, for I liked to gain a higher level. But after some point (I think for me it was after reaching the "friar status") I stopped caring about it too much, for I had seen monks with better knowledge of Perl and less XP than me. I believe a lot of monks have better knowledge of Perl than me (probably the majority) and a lot of them didn't make sainthood yet, so yeah, XP doesn't mean anything.

Something I refrained from doing (too much ;-) was whining about it. I have posted nodes that initially got -1 or -2, but ended up highly in the positives. This is also the case with your specific node. At this very moment, you got a +17 ranking for that node and I even downvoted it (amongst probably many others). Why? I didn't get to see your node without the update. If you didn't bitch about getting a negative ranking, I wouldn't have voted at all. I only vote up when I read something that I should have written, or when someone writes something that I find contributing to the discussion/question. Besides that, that URL was posted here, and here, and here, and here, and here before, so to me, it wasn't worth an upvote to begin with.

Yes, you can find flaws in the voting system (especially if you don't agree with the majority that vote at a given time), but if you have suggestions to make it better, I believe the gods are more than interesting to hear about it.

One thing I do disagree with is "doing nothing is like casting a - vote". Doing nothing can both work in your favor and in your disadvantage, so IMHO, you're just wrong there. We can't all vote for each individual node, so at some point you'll have to do "nothing". Your bad that I had votes left to downvote your posting.

Another thing I disagree with is your idea of getting rid of the downvote option. "If you don't gain too many votes on your node, you'll know that it's probably not well received. But it's achieved without the - votes.". The only differance that makes is that you don't lose XP, and it seems to me, that's all that really bothers you.

In an electoral poll (assuming a compulsory voting system), you either cast a vote on a certain candidate or you cast an empty vote (an invalid vote). I don't think you can cast a - vote on any candidate.

As PodMaster finely puts it: "nobody is trying to elect you". So this analogy is just plain wrong.

I appreciate your response, b10m.

I would like to clarify some things that you said or implied.

I believe a lot of monks have better knowledge of Perl than me (probably the majority) and a lot of them didn't make sainthood yet, so yeah, XP doesn't mean anything.

I'm aware of the fact that XP does not measure knowledge of Perl. I've reached pontiff but a lot of the times the Perl questions I asked were so basic that if XP truly measures one's knowledge of Perl, I would be ashamed to ask those questions.

You seemed to imply that I care a lot about XP. If that's the case, I would be using up all my votes every time to get more XP but that's not what I have been doing. I don't usually use up my votes and sometimes I don't use them for days.

But I do bother about getting - votes for a particular node. It's like you're a chef and when you see disgruntled expressions on your patrons' faces, you wonder whether there's something wrong with the food. You wonder because you care about what you cook.

The only differance that makes is that you don't lose XP, and it seems to me, that's all that really bothers you.

Please read my explanation above but you're entitled to your belief.

As PodMaster finely puts it: "nobody is trying to elect you". So this analogy is just plain wrong.

The anology may not have been a valid one but I've made a suggestion and I think it's a possible solution.

But I do bother about getting - votes for a particular node. It's like you're a chef and when you see disgruntled expressions on your patrons' faces, you wonder whether there's something wrong with the food. You wonder because you care about what you cook.

To follow this example, it's like you're a chef and just put a new meal on the menu. After cooking it for your customers, you got two customers telling you they didn't like it too much (possibly 'cause it wasn't something new at all, for those customers had eaten the same thing at least 5 times before at this restaurant). Your first response seems to be to talk to those customers. "How can you not like my new meal? It's good!" and even worse, you tell all the other customers that come in to the restaurant later they'd better like it, for you say it's a good meal. Surprisingly, 18 customers even tell you the like it after that rude cheff appearance.

Just accept that not everyone likes your meal, but in this specific case, more people seem to like than dislike it. Telling people what to think of your meal usually doesn't work too well ;-)

--
b10m

All code is usually tested, but rarely trusted.

A lot of times I'll notice a few immediate downvotes, even on good nodes I've written that go on to have high reputations. So what?

--Solo