Why is there a hidden down vote button?

When you deactivate styles for the forums you can find a down vote button which you usually can't see. It doesn't do anything tho.

Don't know for sure, but my bet is that when admins choose to disable it IP Board simply hides it rather than excluding the markup.

Interesting, why is it disabled? Might be useful for some threads.

It's a disabled feature of the reputation system. Leaving it enabled would likely lead to abuse, and it's unnecessarily negative to begin with. Posts that would be truly deserving of negative votes should probably be reported instead.

Lyqyd, on 25 July 2016 - 05:37 PM said:

It's a disabled feature of the reputation system. Leaving it enabled would likely lead to abuse, and it's unnecessarily negative to begin with. Posts that would be truly deserving of negative votes should probably be reported instead.

I dont see how this makes sense. Lets take the recent Tutorial that got a lot of negative attention for being useless. It DOES have some useful info in it if you're a complete newbie, but otherwise kind of useless. A downvote/upvote system might not be a bad idea to see how something is getting viewed.

Cloud Ninja, on 26 July 2016 - 05:54 PM said:

I dont see how this makes sense. Lets take the recent Tutorial that got a lot of negative attention for being useless. It DOES have some useful info in it if you're a complete newbie, but otherwise kind of useless. A downvote/upvote system might not be a bad idea to see how something is getting viewed.

I would tend to disagree. A downvote system just by virtue of existing often encourages negative interactions and would be used as an "I disagree" button. Just look at Reddit for an example of this. Legitimate and relevant content will often be downvoted due to a dislike on the part of the downvoter of something minor.

Additionally, what could a downvote possibly add to the forum? A post with many upvotes indicates appreciation for quality content. I don't think the forums need the extra toxicity that would be added by a downvote.

Bubba, on 26 July 2016 - 10:35 PM said:

-snip-

A forum I was a part of solved this problem by expanding the like/dislike system into several different ratings, of which you could give one out of a list of eight or so. That way if you disagreed with something, you didn't dislike it or give it a dumb rating, you gave it a disagree rating.

Jiloacom, on 28 July 2016 - 02:10 PM said:

Bubba, on 26 July 2016 - 10:35 PM said:

-snip-

A forum I was a part of solved this problem by expanding the like/dislike system into several different ratings, of which you could give one out of a list of eight or so. That way if you disagreed with something, you didn't dislike it or give it a dumb rating, you gave it a disagree rating.

My issue with that is that it is such a low effort and useless form of feedback. If you disagree strongly enough with someone to make that disagreement public, you should simply make a (polite) reply stating your issues with their post. I don't feel the same way about an upvote system because it is primarily used to indicate that you agree with a person, or that they have produced quality content. A dislike needs more information to go by though.

Bubba, on 28 July 2016 - 03:22 PM said:

My issue with that is that it is such a low effort and useless form of feedback. If you disagree strongly enough with someone to make that disagreement public, you should simply make a (polite) reply stating your issues with their post. I don't feel the same way about an upvote system because it is primarily used to indicate that you agree with a person, or that they have produced quality content. A dislike needs more information to go by though.

The people on that forum usually wrote a reply to the post as well, which explained the rating. In the end, ratings really don't matter (that includes up votes/likes).

Jiloacom, on 28 July 2016 - 04:07 PM said:

Bubba, on 28 July 2016 - 03:22 PM said:

My issue with that is that it is such a low effort and useless form of feedback. If you disagree strongly enough with someone to make that disagreement public, you should simply make a (polite) reply stating your issues with their post. I don't feel the same way about an upvote system because it is primarily used to indicate that you agree with a person, or that they have produced quality content. A dislike needs more information to go by though.

The people on that forum usually wrote a reply to the post as well, which explained the rating. In the end, ratings really don't matter (that includes up votes/likes).

If they don't matter then why add downvotes at all? Or are you arguing that they shouldn't be added?

Anyway I would disagree that they don't matter. I think upvotes are a decent indicator of a quality post. And I think that downvotes are a "feel good" mechanism on the part of the downvoter, and are used to "shame" people who they disagree with.

Bubba, on 28 July 2016 - 04:20 PM said:

If they don't matter then why add downvotes at all? Or are you arguing that they shouldn't be added?

I'm saying that, in the end, ratings don't matter. They're fun and it's nice to get an up vote, but all that really matters is the quality of the post. If we don't get down votes or any other ratings, then I'll be just as happy as I would be if we did have them.

Bubba, on 28 July 2016 - 04:20 PM said:

Anyway I would disagree that they don't matter. I think upvotes are a decent indicator of a quality post. And I think that downvotes are a "feel good" mechanism on the part of the downvoter, and are used to "shame" people who they disagree with.

That's your opinion I suppose. I really didn't mean to start an argument, I was just sharing how another forum did their rating system :mellow:/>

Who here gets upvotes? (Except moderators and OPs, that one person likkes upping them :/)

TheRockettek, on 28 July 2016 - 10:36 PM said:

Who here gets upvotes? (Except moderators and OPs, that one person likkes upping them :/)

I've gotten upvotes for helping in AAP, and on several of my threads.

…

Personally, I'm fine with the upvote/no downvote system. It's nice to see someone appreciates my posts, and I would like people to articulate negative feedback so that I may improve in the future. I can always use a poll, either the forums poll or 3rd party, to acquire positive and negative votes if I wish.

KingofGamesYami, on 28 July 2016 - 11:55 PM said:

Personally, I'm fine with the upvote/no downvote system. It's nice to see someone appreciates my posts, and I would like people to articulate negative feedback so that I may improve in the future. I can always use a poll, either the forums poll or 3rd party, to acquire positive and negative votes if I wish.

Agree 100%. Negative voting only promotes negative behaviour and 'ruining' someone's rep, I don't see any benefit to it; there's already enough trolling on here (although it's always cleaned up) as it is.