I wade in.

[FredStembottom]

I wasn't going to comment on the wildfire currently burning through DU canyon.....
but I feel compelled to ask folks to take a look at the Greatest Page today (Friday) and see what it has become.

It has become: useful, rapidly informative, (mostly) hierarchical as to what Progressives need to see and are most likely to want to know about in a quick read.

Whatever else the-new-system is, early results say it's like, totally, freakin' effective!

Gone are the Fuck X!, Fuck Y!, Fuck Z! postings (and their generic sister What the Fuck!) which are welcome here at DU.... but don't belong on any kind of Greatest Page for the simple reason that if you've read one X-is-a-douchebag post, you've read 'em all.

I come to DU to possibly spot someone else's inspired solution to the massive corruption of our government in general and our Party in particular.

And, suddenly, today, the Greatest Page feels like a help in that direction - as opposed to a random list of hollers.

And so, for such encouraging and swift results, I give the Admins this laurel ... and hearty handshake! :thumbsup:

[Common Sense Party]

1. Amen.

It's a good thing.

[Bicoastal]

2. A "hardy" handshake?

You mean, from THIS guy?

[FredStembottom]

6. Oh, crap! I ruined my own joke!

edit edit edit...

[WillyT]

12. Hey... That Was A LAUREL And Hardy Handshake !!!

:evilgrin:

[Bicoastal]

14. Ooops.

WHOOSH over my head!

[WeDidIt]

3. I didn't se a single "Rec This Thread If You..." post on the Greatest

That alone proves the effectiveness.

[tridim]

11. Absolutely, "Rec if" threads were almost always useless IMO

Somebody could write their dissertation on this new rec/unrec system. The data and result is really interesting.

[dionysus]

4. i agree, i find it funny the outrage this has caused for a tiny handful of posters...

[Deja Q]

5. So far so good...

[moggie]

7. 'Scuse me while I whip this out

Kudos for the Blazing Saddles reference! I think it's too early to say whether the new system will work out once people have got used to it, but I'm hopeful. I rarely bothered with the GP before, because it seemed pretty worthless, but it does seem to have improved for the moment.

[FredStembottom]

17. ...for the moment.......

...is right. I am still waiting to see if Rec/UnRec wars are possible.
Or would the rest of us even notice one going on?

[MineralMan]

8. That's what I thought too. I went to the Greatest Page

and saw some interesting posts there.

Frankly, it was the first time I went there since the single time one of my OPs (about Franken news) got recced to it.

I just don't use the Greatest Page.

[TexasObserver]

9. And for GD, it means ratings that have real meaning.

A cursory look at the main page of GD reveals a number of threads which have truly gained the support of a majority of DUers who have rated such threads.

Gone is the ability of any five posters to move a thread onto the Great Page. If one is really concerned about the alleged troll problem, nothing allowed a handful of them to manipulate the system like the 5 Recs and you're in system.

[Laelth]

10. It has become (principally) a useful liberal news feed.

There is less discussion and much less controversy, but if we want it to be a liberal news feed, then we got what we wanted.

:dem:

-Laelth

[FredStembottom]

18. Maybe just the Greatest Page has changed to that?

Which would be appropriate for that page, no?

Won't discussion and controversy carry on as always in GD, GDP etc.?

[Laelth]

19. What the Greatest Page has become is fine, if that's what the admins want.

Lively discussions (mostly about the unrec feature itself) continue in GD. And that's fine too.

Personally, I like the controversial topics and lively discussion. Those threads will be slightly less visible now, and that will make it slightly harder to get a lively discussion going.

Again, if that's what the admins want, it's fine. I just want to be clear about what the unrec function does.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Bicoastal]

13. deleted

delete

[lamp_shade]

15. Great, isn't it? I had stopped going to the GP because of all the crap. Good to go back. n/t

[frogcycle]

16. yeah

I was looking forward to unrec-ing a bunch of fluff, but others beat me to it!

[peace13]

20. When the whistle blows ... four drum beats...take off with the right foot.

It's great to all be in step ain't it? I am not certain how this will all work out but I do love these posts that are so happy. Time will tell.