gourimoko
Fighting the good fight!
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2008
- Messages
- 39,845
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EDIT: It appears necessary I have to remind folks this isn't EAYOR. Please, if you can't say anything intelligent then don't clutter the thread. It's not a lot to ask and it's in accordance with the forum rules, AFAIK. Thanks.
I figured we should try to have the discussion here in genpop first, and hope for the best, because there are some great genpop posters and I'd appreciate their honest opinions.
I'd just like to hear if there is any worthwhile merit in the various forms of "down-rating" of posts, i.e., "Disagree" and "Old."
I think it's clear that I personally dislike both, I don't get their usefulness, and it's obvious that many are abusing the system. If one person gives out an Old rating on a post, he can almost certainly expect a retaliatory Old rating on his future or even previous posts.
The disagree button really doesn't do anything, imho, that warrants it's negative consequences (that being discouraging dissent). It'd be much more useful if there were competing ideas and then we could see from the number of "Likes" each got as a gauge of who thinks what, rather than posters just spamming the two buttons and then not posting why they disagree.
I just think it's lazy and disincentivizes active debate and discussion, instead, encouraging like-mindedness and "groupthink."
A poster didn't understand what I and others had meant by saying that we're suffering from groupthink in another thread and asked for a definition. Here's how Wikipedia defines it:
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints, by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.
Loyalty to the group requires individuals to avoid raising controversial issues or alternative solutions, and there is loss of individual creativity, uniqueness and independent thinking. The dysfunctional group dynamics of the "ingroup" produces an "illusion of invulnerability" (an inflated certainty that the right decision has been made). Thus the "ingroup" significantly overrates its own abilities in decision-making, and significantly underrates the abilities of its opponents (the "outgroup"). Furthermore groupthink can produce dehumanizing actions against the "outgroup".
I think this pretty much describes what happens whenever there is some level of dissenting opinion here on the forum, and I think the rating system discourages those who are willing to vocally disagree and assert their opinions. I know quite a few long-time posters would likely agree with this.
I realize that when we transitioned to XenForo, I was the most vocal advocate for a down-rating system, and @Randolphkeys and @David. both were fairly against the idea. As I said before, I don't think it works as intended.
It's no big-deal, and it's not the end of the world, nor is in an imminent problem that must be fixed. To me, it's really just an annoyance. I say that because, you take the time to collect your thoughts, write a post, or a rebuttal, but then someone just strolls by and presses a button and that in itself suffices. I just think it encourages lower quality content on the site, that's all.
So.. discuss.. and please, no bullshit responses like "get over it" etc.. I realize the admins have their hands full, and I'm not demanding change, I'm just asking for a discussion on a discussion board. If you've got nothing to say of value, don't clutter the thread.
I figured we should try to have the discussion here in genpop first, and hope for the best, because there are some great genpop posters and I'd appreciate their honest opinions.
I'd just like to hear if there is any worthwhile merit in the various forms of "down-rating" of posts, i.e., "Disagree" and "Old."
I think it's clear that I personally dislike both, I don't get their usefulness, and it's obvious that many are abusing the system. If one person gives out an Old rating on a post, he can almost certainly expect a retaliatory Old rating on his future or even previous posts.
The disagree button really doesn't do anything, imho, that warrants it's negative consequences (that being discouraging dissent). It'd be much more useful if there were competing ideas and then we could see from the number of "Likes" each got as a gauge of who thinks what, rather than posters just spamming the two buttons and then not posting why they disagree.
I just think it's lazy and disincentivizes active debate and discussion, instead, encouraging like-mindedness and "groupthink."
A poster didn't understand what I and others had meant by saying that we're suffering from groupthink in another thread and asked for a definition. Here's how Wikipedia defines it:
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints, by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.
Loyalty to the group requires individuals to avoid raising controversial issues or alternative solutions, and there is loss of individual creativity, uniqueness and independent thinking. The dysfunctional group dynamics of the "ingroup" produces an "illusion of invulnerability" (an inflated certainty that the right decision has been made). Thus the "ingroup" significantly overrates its own abilities in decision-making, and significantly underrates the abilities of its opponents (the "outgroup"). Furthermore groupthink can produce dehumanizing actions against the "outgroup".
I think this pretty much describes what happens whenever there is some level of dissenting opinion here on the forum, and I think the rating system discourages those who are willing to vocally disagree and assert their opinions. I know quite a few long-time posters would likely agree with this.
I realize that when we transitioned to XenForo, I was the most vocal advocate for a down-rating system, and @Randolphkeys and @David. both were fairly against the idea. As I said before, I don't think it works as intended.
It's no big-deal, and it's not the end of the world, nor is in an imminent problem that must be fixed. To me, it's really just an annoyance. I say that because, you take the time to collect your thoughts, write a post, or a rebuttal, but then someone just strolls by and presses a button and that in itself suffices. I just think it encourages lower quality content on the site, that's all.
So.. discuss.. and please, no bullshit responses like "get over it" etc.. I realize the admins have their hands full, and I'm not demanding change, I'm just asking for a discussion on a discussion board. If you've got nothing to say of value, don't clutter the thread.
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