A recommendation to admins and a comment

[Az]

Any forum such as DU is going to favor complaints and negative comments. Its the nature of the beast. You see whenever someone posts a positive comment that people largely agree with it will get a smattering of agreed's from those who take the time to do so. But for the most part if there is nothing controversial about it then it will drop to the bottom and off the page in nothing flat.

Post a comment that others may find controversial and its a completely different story. Disagreement is what makes forums work. They peg threads to the top and keep them before the audience constantly.

Now we have a recommendation system here. But even if a post gets recommended it does not get kicked. So the question to the admins is can you make it so a recommendation also kicks the article back to the top? That would help to keep good posts in the forefront and give people something positive to see rather than just the contentious threads.

Oh and to everyone else. Give good threads more kicks and bumps. A society that only focuses on the negative can only go in one direction. So do whatever it takes to keep good ideas before the people. Discuss them and add to them. We don't just have to squabble and bicker with each other. We can build as well as tear down. And building is far more important than anything else.

[Bonobo]

1. Also, why the 24 hour period limit for recs? Does it defeat the purpose?

Oh and IBTL.

[tbyg52]

18. I've often thought that it might be nice

if the time spent on the Greatest page was influenced by the number of recs, or something. Or if the time limit was perhaps 48 hours, or something.

The 24-hour limit causes me to miss important stuff, I'm sure, on days I don't have time to get on the computer. (At home - my employer would not be happy if I visited DU at work, since it's by its very name partisan.)

Edited to say that I'm extremely happy with DU as is, for sure!

I guess I'm IBTL also, but I don't see any particular reason this thread should be locked. But that's just me.... ;)

[hisownpetard]

26. Great ideas. Seconded!

[mudesi]

2. That's not the worst idea I've ever heard...

K & R ;-)

[QC]

3. How about a negative recommend,

so that obvious crap can get kicked to the bottom?

[jgraz]

9. Nah, it will just set up "kick wars"

For obvious trolls, there's always the alert button. Posts good enough to get 5 recs are likely to have a broader appeal no matter who objects to them.

[QC]

12. You are right about kick wars.

I'm not so sure about the power of recommends, though--the dumbest and most divisive threads always seem to get tons of recommends while the intelligent and thoughtful ones disappear within minutes.

[2008]

17. 2 problems with that idea

1. freeper infiltrators and/or just plain miserable individuals would down-kick just about everything they could find

2. "the bottom" of any forum is about 700,000 threads down, so one down-kick would effectively eliminate the thread

[Lex]

4. You can do a rec and quick K & R

to kick it to the top.

[babylonsister]

5. But people don't. They might 'r', but not kick it. nt

[hisownpetard]

25. Any time you comment on a thread, that's a 'kick,' right?

[lonestarnot]

30. hisownpetard... snort!

[babylonsister]

6. Stellar idea imo!

:toast:

[jgraz]

7. K&R -- answers to polls should also kick a thread

[distantearlywarning]

8. I agree. K&R

[NV Whino]

10. I agree with this

sometimes I don't have a comment to kick the thread, but will recommend it. I think a rec should equal a kick. And I agree with the poll automatic vote/kick, too. Again, I may not want to make a comment to kick, but I will think it important enough to vote.

[Gregorian]

11. It's a good idea. But I have a couple of thoughts.

It sounds like the result you are looking for would be to have recommended threads more visible at the top of the page. One possible flaw with the "bump from a recommended" concept (which should be implemented), is that if the page is active, even that bump will only be brief. The other thought is that it depends upon which page one is looking at. If one is looking at the greatest page, then obviously those threads that are highly recommended are already there.

It sounds like maybe there could even be a formula (there's a better term, but I'm forgetting it) whereby each recommend puts the thread up with a delayed fall. Or in other words, a recommend would bump a thread up to the top where it would stay for a little longer than a regular thread. Sort of a time delay. So that the upper portion of any given forum page would contain a condensed group of recommended threads. That could run into problems were there is a whole page of recommended threads. Then the active threads would only be on the second page, for example. Or maybe even most of the way down the first page.

I suppose Earl would be the one to mull this over. It might end up that just the bump idea that you have is enough. But I was just thinking another step in a process.

[Gregorian]

33. Al Gore Rythm!

An algorithm. That's the word I was thinking of.

It hit me last night. And suddenly I realized Al Gore ithm.

Never mind.

[Bjorn Against]

13. I agree fully

There are threads here getting hundreds of replies, but very few recommendations if any. Whenever I see a thread like this I can usually tell it is flamebait before I even look at it. Yet I see a lot of really excellent posts sink with lots of recommendations but no kicks. As a result many of the best posts on this site go unseen. I would actually see a modification that would actually make a recommend worth more than a kick. People tend not to comment if they have nothing to add, but they do comment if they disagree. That is why flamebait keeps getting kicked to the top constantly. I would like the administrators to think of ways to address this issue, I think it would really benefit DU greatly.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Well, I'll begin my involvement in thsi thread with a Nom. My reply is the kick

This idea has been put forward before by many other people. I've done it myself. I think its a great idea. I also think that positive threads will help absorb and dilute the often moist feces that gets flung with abandon.

Admins ...... please consider this.

[DeepModem Mom]

15. An R, with a K!

[smiley_glad_hands]

16. K & R

I am so guilty of R without K. Good idea. I see a good post, I don't always feel the need to respond, 90% of the time someone will respond with what i was thinking anyway and I hate redundancy and only like to post original thoughts.

[annabanana]

19. R (and then WAY too many clicks for a) K

[IDemo]

20. Another: get rid of the 'edit post' time limit

Mistaykes in speling, grammer, an logik don't alwais reveel themselfs immeediately!:argh:

[renie408]

21. No. That would allow people who say controversial things and get slammed for it

to go back and change the original post long after it has gone up, making the rest of the thread appear incongruous.

[IDemo]

23. While that may happen, I don't think it would often enough to become a problem

Especially if part or all of the post is copied in subsequent replies.

[Bjorn Against]

24. I don't think that would be such a bad thing...

People can already do that as long as they do it within an hour of posting, but if they hear people's objections and change their mind they have no way to modify their position after an hour. If someone realizes they were wrong there is no reason we need to keep slamming their words, it becomes very unproductive. I am sure everyone has said things before without fully thinking them through, I don't have a problem with a person changing their controversial post to reflect their second thoughts on the matter.

[Breeze54]

27. I try to remember to use the Spell Check to avoid

that problem. Grammar is another story. ;)

[renie408]

22. This seems like a good idea. I know I get overwhelmed by the doom and gloom

sometimes.

I also notice that sometimes when I get off of here, I am snappish with my husband and kids. So, a little more positive would work for me.

[Breeze54]

28. OP is food for thought... What I don't 'get' is why people recommend

but don't take credit for the recommend. Seems like an exercise in futility.

Why recommend (which in my book says you agree with the OP) yet, not

want others to read the OP as well? Are you afraid to take a stance and

stand behind your recommendation? Are you afraid of being confronted or

pinned down on your opinion? I add my name when I recommend. It just

seems like the right thing to do, to me. Maybe a + or - recommend would

be in order, like they have at Daily Kos. Or pinning the recommended for

so many days... Maybe the "Greatest" could be moved to a forum "library"?

Instead of dropping out of sight?

[Az]

31. It is part of human nature

We are reluctant to speak up about issues unless we feel threatened by what we see. Even things we agree with or approve in real life we are reluctant to speak up. If people see someone do something good they rarely speak up to congratulate them or give them approval. But if someone does something you don't like you are far more likely to react and attempt to assert yourself.

[druidity33]

38. because I'm on dial-up

It's really the difference between opening 3 browser windows or 5... it bothers me that i have to "go back" and then "view all" all over again. Often a thread will get one or the other from me, rarely both. It'd have to be a good topic indeed for me to spend a few minutes just reloading pages...

btw, dial-up sucks...

:(

[DLnyc]

43. Dial-up also--have you tried turning off images?

`speeds things up a lot, I find. (although I miss some of the info, unless I take the time to load each image manually).

[druidity33]

45. yes, i have

but pages only load 20% or so faster. Probably because the phone lines in my town are ancient... i had a phone tech tell me he'd be surprised if i got quicker than a 28.8 modem speed, regardless of system configuration. Satellite is too darned expensive tho...

:(

[DLnyc]

46. You have my sympathy

I'm usually at 48 . . . not that much faster.

[CrispyQ]

29. A great idea!

k&r ;)

[Dora]

32. And don't respond to flamebait - let the turds sink on their own. nt

[bobbolink]

34. Actually, what the current system shows is the priority of the people here.

Clearly, many come to fight, many come to chatter about surface things (like "DUing a poll), and very few are concerned about poverty, or other unsexy issues of much import.

It's a very clear picture of what priorities are.

*THAT"S* what needs to be fixed.

[NMMNG]

35. Most excellent idea

K&R

[scarletwoman]

36. Okay, here's my k&r. I like the idea of a rec equaling a kick, I've often wished for it myself. (nt)

[rhett o rick]

37. As long as we are making suggestions: I would like to see a method of keeping an issue (thread)

alive for a long time. For example, what is the latest on the numerous investigations the Dems are involved in? There should be somewhere we can go to a thread that will give us the latest update even if it was months ago. Lots of interesting issues die and we never here about them again.

[WillyT]

39. Great Idea !!! - K & R !!!

:kick:

[rug]

40. We need a condemnation feature that will knock the thread to page 20.

[stillcool]

44. .....

:kick:

[LWolf]

41. Good ideas.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Pacifist Patriot]

42. If I can toss one wee little wrench into the idea.

The only short-coming to the idea that I see is it presumes the posts being recommended are positive and productive. It's all a matter of opinion of course but I've seen some of the dumbest crap and contentious pile fests on the Greatest Page as well. You have to be prepared for an automatic Rec to kick those to the top of the page too. I really do apologize for adding a negative note to an attempt to promote the positive and productive (with which I agree wholeheartedly), but I'm just not entirely sure the suggestion would necessarily have the desired outcome.