[Stecchino]

I find myself constantly wanting to "thumbs-up" and "thumbs-down" the posts of others (the particularly funny or helpful ones and the pointless and energy-wasting ones, respectively).

Of course I have no idea the hoops MacNN would have to jump through to integrate something like this, but some sort of a blend of the traditional discussion forum structure and a Digg-like post rating system would be an upgrade I think. Thoughts?

[subego]

They turned on thread ratings for a moment a while back.

I recall it going over like a lead balloon.

[Stecchino]

Lead balloon, huh?

Well I didn't know that. Although my vision is that it would be the actual posts that get rated up or down, not the thread as a whole. This would discourage the pointless, time-wasting, or otherwise inflammatory posts while encouraging helpful and entertaining posts throughout. In a way, I suppose it'd be vaguely similar to Apple's own support discussions site where there are "top-rated members" but it needn't be as complicated as that. Over there, depending on your own "membership level" or whatever you can only give so many points, etc. This would simply be a '+' or a '-' on any post you come across. An 'X' or a "check", you get the idea.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Stecchino

Thoughts?

In the "serious" forums, yes, could be a good thing.

I'm against it for the Lounge. The Louneg is the Lounge, if people don't like it that way, stick to the other forums.

-t

[Demonhood]

i don't think vb has anything for individual post ratings. i'm pretty sure it is just about threads in their entirety.
if we did enable it, it would solely be for the non-lounge forums. i suppose we could test it for a week or two and see if it is helpful in the least bit. anyone else have thoughts on the matter?

[rickey939]

I wouldn't use this feature at all, but it's worth the test 'Hood to see how things go I suppose.

[red rocket]

Silly idea. What's next, karma?

[Demonhood]

there actually IS a "reputation" feature that vb has. we disabled that because you folks are cruel cruel people.

[Stecchino]

Yes! "Reputation" would be great. Again, it will encourage better-quality posts and discourage the unhelpful ones.

Haven't you ever wanted to scold someone for posting a question like "Where do I buy a case for my PowerBook?" when there are about 10 LONG-arse threads on the topic already and they obviously didn't bother searching? This is your chance.

What about those afternoons when you swoop through aiding and abetting all the Mac-newbies that post a ton of questions and generally giving them a great first point of the contact with the Mac community? Then those doing the helping could get rewarded for it (with something other than [FONT="Century Gothic"]warm fuzzies[/FONT] in their heart).

[turtle777]

Pfff, I'll get two accounts then:
One for flaming, and one for nice-guy pretence

-t