Proposal to prohibit OPs from rating their own threads

[John Schneider]

It seems to me, as of late, that the thread rating tool (thumbs up) has been misused by OPs as a way to drive interest/traffic to their thread, either to get disproportionately more answers or to increase the chance of a sale (for FS threads).

I feel that so doing violates the intent and spirit of the rating tool, which is for disinterested parties to flag threads of a particularly interesting nature, which may be of interest to the community in general.

The most egregious example, and that which finally prompted this post, was that of yesterday night when a first-time poster, in his/her first post (a FS for a Jobo and other darkroom equipment), gave it a thumbs up. This was a blatant attempt to drive sales traffic to his/her thread, rather than flagging a thread of especial interest to the community in general. In particular, I feel that thread rating symbols have no place in the FS section at all: this is not a section that purports to supply answers and comments to interesting (or even mundane) questions at all.

Some (even long-time members) automatically slap a thumbs-up to each and every thread that they post. It is not for the OP to rate his/her thread; they have a conflict of interest and additionally are too close to the matter to dispassionately rate its importance or interest to the wider community. Allowing the OP to rate their own thread runs counter to the sprit and intent of such rating tools; their use in FS posts even worse.

I’ve said my $0.02. What do others think of this?

[David A. Goldfarb]

Why do we need thread rating at all? So few people seem to notice it or use it, that it seems irrelevant. I rated a few threads when I first noticed that feature, but not with any consistency, and since it never seemed to have caught on, I haven't done it for some time.

[Sheldon N]

I've never paid any attention to ratings on a thread. I don't think it gets them anything.


That said, I think I'm going to give this thread 5 stars! :)

[Nick_3536]

You can rate threads?

Do I have to read the manual?

[Andrey Donchev]

The thread rating system is a good feature and I think that it must stay, but like Mr. Schneider said, it has no place in the FS section.

[Michael Jones]

The thread rating system is a good feature and I think that it must stay, but like Mr. Schneider said, it has no place in the FS section.

I agree.

Mike

[Brian Ellis]

I've never rated my own threads or anyone else's. But I agree with your proposal, either get rid of them entirely or at least get them out of the FS section.

[Struan Gray]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!




Sorry.
For a minute there I thought we'd be reabsorbed by photo.net.

[Ted Harris]

Folks, remember that posts in the FS section are not archived. They disappear after a month of inactivity.

[Glenn Thoreson]

Hmmmm...... Ratings? I never knew you could do that. I wouldn't bother anyway. If it doesn't stand on it's own merits, it's not up to me to try to influence anyone. Maybe I don't understand.

[Kirk Gittings]

I never noticed that there were ratings, so I guess it never impacted on me one way or the other.

[sanking]

I never noticed that there were ratings, so I guess it never impacted on me one way or the other.

I never noticed it either.

It takes a lot of balls, and a fair amount of savy, for a first-time poster to figure out how to give a thumbs-up to his/her FS ad. Gotta give him/her a thumbs up for being enterprising, along with the thumbs down for inappropriate behavior.

Sandy

[nelsonfotodotcom]

The rating system can be turned off with ease. I see no real problem with it, but no real benefit either.

[Michael Graves]

Okay I give up. Now that you've pointed them out I STILL can't find a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down". Somebody help an old fart with Senile Citizens Syndrome. Where is it?

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

I never noticed it either.

It takes a lot of balls, and a fair amount of savy, for a first-time poster to figure out how to give a thumbs-up to his/her FS ad. Gotta give him/her a thumbs up for being enterprising, along with the thumbs down for inappropriate behavior.

Sandy

Unfortunately, the thumb appears to be the only digit supported by the software.

Kerry

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Thumbs? What thumbs? Never seen any. Why would we need ratings? They are just another form of the ever annoying popularity contests

[Eric James]

It seems as though some are confusing thread ratings (the star system, above), with message icons (smiles, punctuations and thumbs, left).

[Kerik Kouklis]

I would rate a 200-thread count sheet, but who cares about a forum thread rating? Really?

[Eric Biggerstaff]

I rate this thread a thumbs up with a bullet and 10 out of 10 stars. But, my rating grades are pretty easy.

If someone wants to rate their thread, no big deal to me. Heck, I don't have any money to buy anything anyway! So, I mostly ignore the FS threads.

[Nathan Potter]

Michael, I can't find any thumbs either so I guess they're broke and need fixing.

Nate Potter

[Ron Marshall]

I just realised how unobservant I must be; I visit this site most days but have never noticed that feature.

[Tom Westbrook]

The thread posting icons, including the thumbs up and down (and several others) icons, are under the new thread or post (in advanced mode) editing area. Its not a rating, its just an icon, intended to give a visual clue about the contents of the thread.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Are they needed? I can't see what they could possibly contribute. I'd rather have a little extra column width for thread titles.

[Tom Westbrook]

No, they aren't really needed, though they can help the moderators draw attention to a notice. A cursory glance didn't reveal how to remove them, though, so I suspect some heavy mods would be required to the software. It might be possible to remove our thumbs, though :)

[Tom Westbrook]

One additional note on this...

If you want to hide the icon column, you will have to use the alternate display style called "simple".

To switch between the default and "simple" styles, scroll to the very bottom of the page and use the drop-down that says "-- Default Style" and select "simple". It will refresh the page to show a less graphic-intensive view of the forum. You can switch back in the same way, just pick the "Default Style" option to return to normal.

[Wayne]

Why do we need thread rating at all? So few people seem to notice it or use it, that it seems irrelevant.


I didnt even know that we had thread rating, dont use it or look at it wherever it is, wont use it, and wont miss it a bit. :)


Wayne