Re: Why upvote a node?

Anyone else care to comment?

Upvoting

In very general terms here are reasons I feel a node deserves an upvote:

Interesting well thought out questions that provide an opportunity for the community as a whole to learn or grow from.
Interesting and well thought out answers to questions or solutions to problems.
Nodes that contribute something worthwhile to the Perl Monks community

That by no means is a complete one size fits all list.

In general I am more apt to upvote than downvote. For the most part I take the tack that if I have nothing nice to say then why bother. Life is too short.

That doesn't mean I won't downvote a node that sorely deserves it.

Downvoting

Here are a few reasons why I might downvote someone:

Trollish posts
Personal attacks
Flames
Nodes that are being considered for deletion that truly deserve it.
Nodes that read like they are meant to hurt, slander, bully, or otherwise are detrimental to the Perl Monks community

In case you didn't catch it, I use the word "community" here quite a bit. One of the guiding principles of The Monastery is the fact that we are a community not a rabble like some other sites that I won't mention here. A community is supposed to support its members and not tear them down. If you keep that in mind you will have no trouble figuring out what needs upvoting or downvoting.

Another thought: RTFM responses IMHO sometimes deserve an upvote as long as the RTFM is followed by what M to FR.

I am also much more likely to upvote a node over downvoting a node. I'm also more likely to not vote at all on a node that others might be tempted to down vote than down vote it.

Comment on Re: Why upvote a node?

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Re^2: Why upvote a node? by WhiteBird (Hermit) on Sep 08, 2004 at 03:00 UTC
I like the idea of community. In general, I follow similar guidelines in my upvotes and my occasional downvotes. On an individual basis I also upvote things that I find interesting or amusing or that teach me something new. I admit that I don't always weigh everything with a higher purpose of community benefit in mind. I think that the community at Perl Monks is very diverse. There's a vast range of experience, competency and styles represented here, from newbie dabblers to professional programmers. It could be chaotic. But it seems to me that it all evens out through the voting. Whatever standard people individually apply to a node, they usually seem to agree on what is very good and what's not. I've never seen something that I consider a Great Node ever appear in the "worst nodes of the day" or seen a Terrible Node get tremendous upvotes. The cream rises, the sludge settles to the bottom and most everything else sits moderately in between, helping some, boring others but all in all providing the energy that keeps this site alive.	[reply]

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Re^2: Why upvote a node?
by WhiteBird (Hermit) on Sep 08, 2004 at 03:00 UTC

I think that the community at Perl Monks is very diverse. There's a vast range of experience, competency and styles represented here, from newbie dabblers to professional programmers. It could be chaotic. But it seems to me that it all evens out through the voting. Whatever standard people individually apply to a node, they usually seem to agree on what is very good and what's not. I've never seen something that I consider a Great Node ever appear in the "worst nodes of the day" or seen a Terrible Node get tremendous upvotes. The cream rises, the sludge settles to the bottom and most everything else sits moderately in between, helping some, boring others but all in all providing the energy that keeps this site alive.

[reply]