How much importance do you place on the number of rec's a post gets?

[Ohio Joe]

A lot of people seem real upset about our new feature. I don't really get it but then again, I rarely look at the greatest page. I have forums I like and read through most of whats there. I do sometimes rec threads but really, it is my way of letting the OP know I liked it. I don't think I've ever looked at a thread based on the number of recs it has.

So... How important is the number of recs a post has?

[Mari333]

1. I click on threads that interest me, the rec's have nothing to do with it

and I never visit the greatest page.

[City Lights]

2. Ditto. nt

[Crabby Appleton]

18. Same here - recs are of no importance whatsoever to me.

[MercutioATC]

3. Zero importance...and the "Latest" page is my home page, not the "Greatest".

...and the only reason I'm more likely to reply to more recent threads is that there's a better chance of discussion there.

[BlooInBloo]

37. Pretty much it for me, too.

[Ohio Joe]

41. oh man... I hate it when I'm stupid

bwahahahahahaha, you'll love this.

I don't know why but I always thought that the "Latest" button was for the latest info about DU, site upgrades, things like that... hahahahahaha oh man, thats funny :rofl:

[pleah]

4. Depends on what the thread is about. n/t

[anigbrowl]

9. Yeah. It can be a guide to the quality of a news item; opinion pieces are more subjective

[pleah]

11. Yes.

:)

[kiva]

5. Other...no importance.

I pretty much read threads by topic, sometimes by the number of posts (who knew that many people cared about ______), or by author.

[EFerrari]

6. I hardly ever see the Greatest page but do admit that when I write into an issue

it's nice to see recs. :shrug:

It's not all that important to me, I guess. Reading responses is much more important.

[DireStrike]

7. I usually check the 5 on the front page

Then click through straight to GD and/or GDP.

I'm worried that controversial topics or views won't make it to that top 5. Some days I don't have time to check much more than that. I may have to restructure my visits to DU.

The worst part is that if topics I wanted to see ARE kept out, I will never know about it. If total recs/unrecs were shown, I could figure it out when I read the forums at least. I don't like this <0 system. Were people really confused by 2 numbers?

[burnside]

8. Coming out of lurkdom

To say I like the new system. I know some people are real "dissenters" but I also believe there are some people who wait around for a negative story to hit or even something that can be spun into negative. They then create a title that pins the hyperbole meter, and of course it can't be complete without a witty parody of a Obama slogan in the first line "No we can't!" "Change?? More like pennies!" or whatever else the comedic genius can come up with. They then sit back and hit the refresh button every 10 minutes and see how many RECS they built up.

I don't believe legitimate criticism will be effected, I believe that the Michael Taylor appointment would still have gotten a huge amount of positive RECS. At the same time I saw a thread earlier that stated "Obama supports needless death and disease!!!!" complete hyperbole and void of facts those are the threads that will be effected and in the past system that thread would've gotten at least 25 recs. Its about attention, like a contest on who can be the most pure, truest progressive! Its not about help bring change its about not seeing my thread on the oh so important GREATEST PAGE anymore.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. You need to post more...

We need intelligent folks like yourself to inject some needed sanity into the occasional craziness here...

A belated Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Ohio Joe]

16. I understand and agree

Welcome to DU :hi:

[DireStrike]

20. One comment and one grammatik macht frei nazi moment

"I don't believe legitimate criticism will be effected"
"...threads that will be effected..."

You wanted Affected there.


The real thing I wanted to point out is:

I believe that the Michael Taylor appointment would still have gotten a huge amount of positive RECS.

We are not reccing or unreccing the appointment. I'm not sure if you meant to say that or just didn't want to go into the word mess of saying that we would be rating a thread.

Personally I would think the thread pointing out that MT is a terrible appointment would get more recs.

The "needless death and disease" post can indeed get unreccs for all I care. I don't care for hysterical posts even if I agree with their general thrust. I wish we had a civil system of doing it though. It's an awful feeling to make a post you care about and have it be unrecc'd anonymously. Even if it is a post that deserves to be unrec'd. I can already see the viciousness come out in some unrec supporters, during this discussion about unrec.

I think the system will not solve the problems you mention. We will still have bitter partisans on each side of every issue who would rather score points by making pithy comments than really discuss a topic.

Not you though. Thanks for thinking a bit before posting.

[burnside]

40. You are correct

I meant a post stating a real legitimate beef like the MT appointment would be unaffected(thanks for that i'm on iphone so excuse spelling/grammar mistakes) IMO. I think the more over the top subject matter, on BOTH SIDES, will be affected. So not just the hyperbole Obama criticisms but also the "K&R If You Love Our President!" threads, both don't really bring anything positive to the table and this new system might help solve that issue. Whether the system actually works all lands in our hands. If the dissenters are unrec-ing legitimate positive threads just out of spite because there threads no longer make the greatest page it won't work. The same way if people automatically un-rec threads made by posters who tend to lean more towards the negative stuff without actually considering whether the point they are trying to make is valid or not. We have to be adults, period.

[subcomhd]

25. burnside

I too was a long-time lurker and just recently started posting, in large part, due to how anti-Obama this place seamed to have gotten.

[Spazito]

27. Well said!

Welcome to DU!

[Uzybone]

31. Lurkdom has some real gems in it

great post.

[BlooInBloo]

38. Indeed. This is the 2nd one I've seen that "came out" due specifically to the change....

I certainly would not have predicted that fringe benefit.

[FarCenter]

10. Why should I care what others think of a post?

I'll be the judge of that.

[LWolf]

12. Other.

When I don't have time to scroll through the first few pages of threads in several forums, I use the greatest page to find "hot" topics.

[Uncle Joe]

14. If the title of the thread or subject doesn't catch my interest, I check out the recommendations

and sometimes that determines whether I read a thread or not.

[BlooInBloo]

39. That's happened to me before too.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

15. The most important thing to me is who wrote the post.

I have several friends here whose writing I really respect. I tend to recommend their posts.

[Ohio Joe]

23. I am soooo bad with names

With ID's even worse :D I'm still recovering from the name change, heh. I do know about 30 or so names of posters that I will always read though... and a handful that I will always not read :9

Thanks Peggy!

[jgraz]

17. After the unrec feature? Absolutely none.

[Uzybone]

19. Very little to none

I never look at the greatest page, because all it tells me is what other people think was a good post.

I like to figure out what I think is good for my damn self.

[rucky]

21. The best posts have about 30-40 recs.

Any more than that tends to be rah-rah fluff.

[Sebastian Doyle]

22. Less importance than I used to.

Not that it was much to begin with, but now it will be a mob driven fabrication. About as reliable as a FAUX News poll.

[Quantess]

24. Since I check the Greatest Page at least once per visit,

yes, I do place importance on recommendations.

[Ohio Joe]

28. Do you like the new un-rec feature?

I'm just curious. I expect for a while it will kind of mess up things for someone that uses the greatest page a lot but... Do you think in time it will settle down and give better posts air time on the greatest page or do you think it will really screw up the way you like to use DU?

[Quantess]

36. No.

I agree that many threads that made it to Greatest Page don't deserve to be there, but that is usually apparent just by looking at the title, and skipping over them. I may be pessimistic, but I think the risk is greater that some really good threads won't make it to Greatest because of a few lurking FReeps.

[Spazito]

26. No importance at all...

when it comes to which threads I choose to open. It is the header which generates my interest and then the content of the OP as to whether I recommend it for the Greatest page.

Until today, I rarely looked at the Greatest page at all and I have only checked it today as some were saying it would now only contain crap, I didn't find crap on there, it seemed fine to me.

[timeforpeace]

29. None whatsoever. Didn't use it until today.

[subcomhd]

30. I look at recs but greatest is not important

[Unrepentant Fenian]

32. I don't even know what a Rec is or does. n/t

[Vidar]

33. Much less after today.

[scarletwoman]

34. I always open DU from the Home Page and I love to see what the 5 top recommended posts are.

Some I agree with, others I don't. But it's never much bothered me to see a top 5 post that I disagree with -- certainly not to the point where I wanted a way to prevent it from showing up there. No matter what's up there, it's strictly temporary anyway.

sw

[Laelth]

35. I generally trust the Greatest page.

It's a useful tool. If 100+ liberals tell me I should read something, it's probably worthwhile.

:dem:

-Laelth

[UTUSN]

42. Other - I never look at Greatest Page, but DO do a lot of K&R-ing

And take pleasure in getting great threads K&R-ed UP. But once they've gone up there, they're GONE for me, except for follow-up posts in GD (not in Greatest). I've basically thought of Greatest as a place for OUTSIDERS, like from the media, to notice something in DU.

[Ohio Joe]

43. Interesting, I never thought about that

I guess it never occurred to me that the media even knew we existed but new people coming here for the first time... yeah, it is the first thing they see, good point.